


Durarara!! School Musical

by aliceecrivain



Series: The Start of Something New [1]
Category: Durarara!!, High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Humor, M/M, May require some suspension of disbelief, Raijin Days, like a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-07-26 09:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 73,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7568338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliceecrivain/pseuds/aliceecrivain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara meet one fateful night at a New Year's Eve party when they are randomly chosen to participate in a round of karaoke. Though they both leave an impression on each other, they soon part ways and the event begins to slip their minds. To their surprise, the two meet again after break ends at Raijin Academy and quickly realize that first encounter will have greater significance in their lives than either could have ever predicted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, let me tell you. I had no idea when I first wrote this whether I would actually post it, because it's probably one of the most ridiculous things ever conceived, but eventually I decided, eh, what the heck. This is 100% what you think it is: an HSM AU of Durarara!!. (To elaborate: There are no HSM characters in this. Instead, it is the plot of HSM (reworked a great deal in order to keep things IC) with Durarara!! characters. Hopefully that makes sense.) Quite a few changes have been made to the overall plot to make it work, and I really did try my best to keep everyone in character, even despite the roles they take on in the story differing (sometimes a lot) from their actual personalities. It's as loyal to the two source materials as I could get it.
> 
> I also made an FAQ page for this piece, thinking it might be a good idea, so here's that if anyone would like to take a look at it before we get started: [http://aliceecrivain.tumblr.com/dsm-faq] I'll add on to it as I think of more or as things come up.
> 
> Without further ado, I invite you to take the Suspension of Disbelief dial in your brain, crank it as high as it can go, and enjoy the show!

“Are you going to spend the entire night staring at your phone? You finally get invited out for once in your life; you’d think you’d make better use of what might be the only opportunity you’ll ever get to pretend people can stand to be around you,” Namie sneered. It wasn’t the first comment of that nature she’d made that evening, but it was certainly the most direct.

Izaya let his mouth stretch into an easy smile as he continued to flick through a chat log on his phone, almost not deigning to answer at all. “Why, Namie, could it be that you’re lonely without me? You’d better get used to it. I won’t be around to hold your hand forever.” He flicked his eyes up at the mass of young bodies around them, some moving to the music, some standing stationary, getting in the way, many holding drinks of what he had earlier ascertained to be some sad excuse for punch that had been spiked early on in the night, the results of which could be observed in some of the room’s darker corners if one cared to look. He was momentarily distracted by the sight, but soon regained his train of thought, his attention snagging on a likely suspect. “You’re certainly not lacking for attention. That man’s retinas may as well be attached to your breasts permanently considering how long he’s been staring.”

He caught Namie’s scowl out of the corner of his eye, saw her struggle not to turn and fail, apparently locating someone of the sort actually looking at her or caught up enough in his description and her own ego to believe it without needing visible proof because her expression transformed into something of a snarl. “Fine. I’ve wasted enough energy on you tonight already,” she snapped and stalked off into the crowd which quickly swallowed up her retreating form.

Izaya’s grin grew momentarily. She was frightfully easy to play with, something that had at first been amusing to him but now was growing somewhat tiresome. Izaya Orihara preferred a challenge, and neither Namie nor any of the other students at his most recent school had provided anything close to his standards. Luckily, his parents moved his family around so often that there was always next year. Sighing, he pressed the power button on his phone, drawing his eyes back up to the noise and heat of the party around him. He _supposed_ he could at least take a look around the room. Who knew what interesting things he might find? As irritating as Namie was, she had a point. It wasn’t like he attended such mundane little functions very often.

Lithely getting to his feet, he stretched, tucking his phone into his pocket and starting off across the room.

*

“Shizuo…” The sudden voice in the quiet of the gym caused the other boy to jump, throwing off the trajectory of his shot and causing the basketball to go bouncing off across the court.

“Oh hey, Kasuka,” Shizuo greeted his brother, jogging off after the ball, his irritation at the interruption fading immediately after seeing who the voice belonged to. “What’s up?”

Kasuka’s eyes tracked his movements as he dribbled over. Basketball had never really been his thing—actually nothing had ever really been his thing—but Vorona had somehow talked him into joining a co-ed team she’d discovered right before break. She had a way of convincing him to do things he would never do otherwise that involved talking too quickly for him to follow and using such technical language that he ended up simply nodding along. Then he'd nodded his way unknowingly right into a spot on the team, apparently. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he really wasn’t interested when her face lit up after thinking he’d agreed. So, he’d been practicing over winter break the best that he could. His aim was still shit but if he could get up close enough he was tall enough that it was sort of hard to miss.

Maybe it would be fun, he kept suggesting to himself. Maybe he wouldn’t ruin it somehow. He really appreciated Vorona and he didn’t want to mess up their friendship over some stupid game. She’d insisted that the rest of the team was fairly easy-going though, so maybe that was a good sign. She’d also tried to explain all the rules and history of the game to him in ten minutes which hadn’t gone over too well. Shizuo knew all he figured he needed to know: You put the ball in the hoop and tried to keep the other guys away from it. Pretty simple.

So there he was, taking advantage of the fact that no one could stare at him while he practiced because they were all out partying or getting drunk or whatever people did on New Year’s Eve. He wasn’t really sure how his family had scraped up enough money to come to this fancy lodge in the first place, but he had been doing his best to keep his distance from people so his short temper wouldn’t get in the way of them enjoying their stay the best they could. He was surprised, then, that his brother had come all the way over just to talk to him.

“Did something happen?” he asked, his eyebrows drawing together.

“Nothing,” Kasuka said. “Just wanted to see what you were doing.”

Affection for the other boy swelled in his chest and Shizuo tried not to let it show on his face. Such simple reassurances of his brother’s concern always made him happy and embarrassed and surprised in equal parts. “Just shooting some hoops.” The words sounded weird on his tongue, so he hurried to move on from the statement. “You shouldn’t have come all the way over here just for me. You should be up there enjoying the party.”

“So should you,” Kasuka responded immediately. “It’ll be midnight soon.”

Shizuo frowned, looking away and tossing the ball between his hands a few times. “That’s fine. It’d probably be better if I stay here.”

Despite his refusal to meet the other’s eyes, Shizuo didn’t miss the way the corner of Kasuka’s mouth twitched down just slightly, almost as if in disappointment. Guilt bubbled up in his stomach, heavy as always when it came to his family. “Mom and Dad miss you.” A brief pause. “So do I.” Shizuo sighed, knowing where this was going. He couldn’t say no to his kid brother. “What if you came up for a few minutes? Just to do the countdown. Not too long.”

Yeah, right when everything would be the craziest and people would be the drunkest and everyone would be pushing and yelling and being generally obnoxious. Perfect. But Shizuo swallowed down his paranoia and tried to force his face into something more like begrudging agreement. “Well…just for a little bit, I guess.”

Kasuka’s lips twitched up slightly and he held up his hands so Shizuo would pass him the ball. “Sounds good.”

“I’ll clean up and then be over in a bit.” He’d been practicing for a while and the more he thought about it the more he could feel the sweat dripping down his skin. He really wasn’t in any state to be going to some party, nor did he have any desire to be doing so, but he forced himself to start walking off toward the showers anyway.

*

So far the party was as ordinary as Izaya expected it would be. He’d seen a few mildly interesting things, overheard a couple choice conversations, but had ultimately decided he was better off observing from the side after all. He could hardly see much when he was being shoved around in the crowd, most of which had bunched up around a stage when the lodge started up a game of karaoke. As much as Izaya enjoyed humans, he wasn’t as much a fan of their vocal abilities.

He was beginning to slip back over to where he’d been sitting before, keeping an eye out for Namie along the way when he was suddenly blinded by a bright light. 

Bringing a hand up, he tried to shield his eyes, wondering if he’d perhaps been caught in someone’s ill-timed photographic endeavor. But the light stream appeared to be continuous and an explanation was soon offered by the overly-loud voice of the announcer who had been emceeing the karaoke thus far.

Meanwhile, Shizuo found himself caught in a similar predicament. He’d made himself as presentable as he could before slouching up to the lounge where Kasuka said he’d been spending his time. The party was in full-swing by the time he arrived, so luckily no one paid any attention to his entrance. Unfortunately, the noise of it all was almost ear-splitting and he was immediately knocked into only seconds after he’d stepped into the room. He’d managed to step away, trying to scan the room to find Kasuka or maybe his parents when he was also blinded by a spotlight.

“Looks like our next pair has been randomly selected! Come on up here, guys!”

Izaya frowned, stepping out of the beam. He had no desire to sing, no desire to pander to the arbitrary decisions of these people. He was not the observed, after all, but the observer. He was about to decline and make his exit when he caught sight of his supposed partner who looked far more irritated about this whole thing than he felt. It was clear that the other boy was handsome in a rough-edged sort of way, but it was the way his eyebrows pinched together so naturally and the way something in his eyes spoke of unknown danger that made Izaya reconsider.

He could tell the other had the same idea in mind he’d had a couple of seconds ago so he knew he needed to move fast. To his amusement the spotlight tracked him as he slipped through the crowd over to where the boy was standing, seemingly arguing with the emcee.

“No fucking way,” he was growling when Izaya finally stepped up next to him. _He looks better close-up_ , Izaya noted idly. He also noted the way the boy’s hands were clenched into fists. Against what might have been his better judgement he reached over to grab onto his wrist.

The boy’s head snapped up, fixing him with so harsh a glare that he felt his face heat up slightly. He jerked his hand back as well, not particularly wanting it detached from his body which, he thought, was a perfectly reasonable possibility considering the venom in the other’s eyes when he flicked them down toward the point of contact. Pulling his expression and body back under his control, Izaya put on a faux-innocent tone. “What’s wrong? Don’t want to sing with me?”

“Who the hell are you?” the other boy growled.

Izaya grinned as if he were talking to an old friend. “You don’t have stage fright do you?” He began pacing back toward the stage and was gratified to see that the other followed him instinctively, matching him step for step. He couldn’t help but feel like he was being stalked by some sort of large predator, backing away as he was.

“What?” he demanded, his impressive rage fixed abruptly and entirely on Izaya. Meanwhile the crowd was parting for them, aiding Izaya’s cause a great deal. The other details blurred together as all his attention was drawn, inexplicably, to the boy opposite him.

“I said,” Izaya repeated sweetly, making sure to talk just slow enough to make it insulting. “Are you scared?”

“Like hell,” Shizuo snapped. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to be talked down to by this irritating pretty-boy and his shit-eating smile. There was something in the way the other stood, the way he held himself, the way he talked that made it blatantly clear he thought himself better than everyone around him, _especially_ Shizuo. All of his instincts were screaming that this kid was bad news, and they were rarely wrong. He knew he was worked up due to the ridiculous situation he’d found himself in, but he had a feeling even if he’d run into the guy at a grocery store he’d immediately feel like putting his fist through his face. 

“Then what’s the hold up?” Izaya chanced a quick second of distraction where he broke eye contact so he could jump up onto the small stage. He offered his hand out the other boy as if he needed help up.

And Shizuo, much to his later chagrin, caught up in the moment, only growled under his breath and dragged himself up on stage next to the brat, ignoring his hand, only to find a microphone being shoved into his hands a few moments later. And, unfortunately, he was surprised enough that he held on to it.

Izaya was genuinely beaming then and accepted the microphone willingly. His heart hadn’t pounded so quickly in quite a long time. He watched with growing satisfaction as the other fumbled briefly with the microphone and jolted as the song began—some silly stupid love song: lovely—before fixing the intensity of his gaze on him once more. Izaya was so caught up in the fact he might have finally found what he was looking for that he almost forgot to start singing.

Shizuo couldn’t believe this was happening, but he figured it’d be even more embarrassing at this point if he didn’t sing, so he forced himself to read the lyrics on the screen and try to follow along with his voice. The song was equally as obnoxious as the boy singing next to him, overly happy and hopeful. Shizuo had a feeling that if he took his eyes off his “partner” he’d do something suspicious. The dark-haired boy kept getting too close, kept meeting his gaze like he was trying to challenge him to something, kept smirking the whole damn time, and Shizuo made sure to pin him down with his eyes for the entirety of the song in return.

He’d sort of hoped the other’s singing voice would be as annoying as his personality or his cocky expressions, but it was actually pretty nice. A little nasally maybe, but he carried the tune well and his tone was interesting enough to make it unique. It was over, surprisingly, before he knew it. He could hardly remember what happened it had gone by so fast. But some stagehands were stepping out to take the microphones back and the crowd seemed to have been okay with the performance, not that he really cared, and there was some weird rustling in his pocket and—

“Hey!” Shizuo spun to catch his little shit of a singing partner hightailing it off with his goddamn cellphone of all things. Rather than spending more time parsing words, he immediately began to chase after him, shoving through the crowd, some of which attempted to say something to him, until he was lead out onto a more scarcely populated balcony. The cold of the night immediately bit into his skin but he didn’t stop until he’d cornered the other boy up against the railing, bracketing him with his arms for good measure. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Izaya blinked innocently back at him, smiling in a way that looked almost flirtatious. Shizuo, still hearing his blood rush in his ears, feeling the afterburn of adrenaline in his blood, already on edge, recoiled immediately when he felt cool, soft fingers trailing over his own. “You have a surprisingly nice singing voice. Nice and deep. I think we put on a pretty good show together, don’t you?”

Shizuo frowned deeper although the compliment caught him a bit off guard. “I don’t care. Just give me my phone back.”

“What phone?” Izaya asked, raising his eyebrows and making a show of looking around. “Did someone take it? That’s really too bad. Want me to help you look for it?”

“I know you have it. I felt you take it. Just give it back.” Shizuo stepped closer, attempting to intimidate the other who seemed to be immune to it his efforts, even going as far as to step forward so that they were far too close together again. He was pretty ballsy for being such a skinny little thing. Shizuo could see his bones pressing sharp through his skin in several places like they could cut through at any second. He sort of wondered what it’d be like to touch them.

“All in good time,” Izaya said, contradicting his earlier claims of innocence entirely and hardly seeming to care. “But first…” He extended a hand between them. A stray light caught off the silver of a ring on his pointer finger. “Izaya Orihara. Pleasure.”

Shizuo slapped his hand away. “I’m not about to introduce myself to a thief. Now give it. Back.”

Izaya made a show of pouting and flipping his hand to act as though he’d only stuck it out to observe his ring in the first place. “False accusations are nothing to be taken lightly, you know.”

Shizuo was beginning to think it really would be easier to just knock this kid out, devil take the hindmost, but was distracted before he could decide to go through with it by a sudden burst of sound from the crowd still gathering around them. He’d almost forgotten they were there, strangely enough. It seemed like they were counting down the last twenty seconds or so until the New Year finally arrived. Shizuo took a couple seconds to regret that this was how he was starting this new year out, his phone stolen, about to beat up some skinny douchebag to get it back, but he couldn’t think of much to do about it at the moment, so he wrenched his attention away from the obnoxious crowd only to find the other boy had slipped off in the meantime.

Growling in irritation, Shizuo turned away from the balcony even as fireworks began to go off outside, so many brilliant flashes of light drawing the other people in room toward him. He got caught up in the crowd for a good couple of agonizing minutes until he finally managed to escape, thankfully without causing much permanent damage to any of the other partygoers. At least with most of them in one place he could better scan the room.

He couldn’t believe the guy had _actually_ robbed him and gotten away without even a scratch on his pretty face. The thought made him angry enough that he felt the sudden need to lash out at a wall or at least something that couldn’t fight back until he found him—and he _would_ find him, even if it took all night—but was distracted again by a light tap on his shoulder.

Spinning around, he found himself face to face with the thief himself, dangling his cell phone between his thumb and forefinger right in front of him. He reached out and snatched it back, shoving it in his pocket without much thought at the moment. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I could report you to the staff.”

Izaya tilted his head to the side, blinking slowly at Shizuo, and smiled that lazy smile that made Shizuo’s blood boil. “For what? Finding your phone? Pretty nice of me to help a guy who isn’t even polite enough to introduce himself.”

Shizuo actually took a swing at him without thinking much about it. His fist moved without him telling it to do so, as was often the case, but he couldn’t help it. Someone needed to put this asshole in his place, and he would be happy to have the satisfaction of being the one to do it. To his surprise and irritation the other ducked the potential blow so easily they might as well have been doing a coordinated fight scene and smoothly enough to make it look like some kind of a dance. Shizuo ground his teeth and went to take another shot when he was blinded for a second time.

What a shitty night this was turning out to be. He knew he should have just stayed in the gym.

After blinking the light from his eyes, he realized Izaya had seemingly taken a photo of him with his own cell phone and was already tucking it back away in his pocket. At that point the crowd was trickling back in from the balcony weaving around and between the two of them without much thought. Izaya snickered at Shizuo’s expression. “Now I can remember this night forever. Happy New Year, Shizu-chan!” he called, dropping an obnoxiously obvious wink before he disappeared into the crowd like smoke.

It happened so quickly Shizuo took a few seconds to react, and by the time he did Izaya was nowhere to be found. Shizuo couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so furious. His heart was pounding up into his throat, and his limbs shook with excess energy. He scoured the room a while longer, stalking around and scaring some lingering partygoers, but eventually had to cut his losses.

That asshole— _Izaya Orihara_ , he remembered—was gone. He huffed irritably, slumping up against a wall and deciding he ought to head back to find his family. At least he’d gotten his phone back at all. It wasn’t until he was brushing his teeth that night that he realized what exactly was wrong with Izaya’s farewell, other than its existence in entirety.

_I never told him my name._

It took Shizuo even longer to find that the gaudy prick had had the gall to take a picture of himself with Shizuo’s phone, earning him a few strange glances from Kasuka when he’d only been trying to flip through and find a picture he’d taken a few months ago. It was promptly deleted but Shizuo’s blood sizzled for hours afterwards.

 _At least I’ll never have to see him again_ , he mused, bending to tie his shoe as he got ready for basketball practice. The relief was enough to calm him for a brief time afterwards, making it almost as if he’d forgotten his first meeting with Izaya Orihara ever happened.

*

Izaya himself was not so quick to let go, but he had other things to worry about than Shizuo Heiwajima, as he’d discovered the other boy’s name was. The possibility of them ever meeting again was slim, especially when he discovered that his family was moving yet again that week, in the middle of the year no less. He sometimes wondered what went on his parents’ minds. He’d be entering Raijin Academy soon and while past memories were sweet, even they began to fade in midst of so much commotion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the POV of each section becomes clearer from here on out. More chapters will come as I edit through them. ovo


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New day, new chapter! As I wrote in the FAQ I made for this fic, I'm going to try to put up a chapter about every two days if I can keep up with it. To be fair, I already have the whole thing written, I'm just going back through to try to catch as many typos/grammatical issues as I can and make other minor changes.
> 
> This chapter introduces quite a few more characters, and as such, I think I ought to apologize ahead of time (especially about Aoba and Kujiragi) if they seem out of character. I tried not to make it that way, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm a lot more familiar with Izaya and Shizuo than I am with some of the others, and I'm sure it shows. Hopefully it's not too bad.
> 
> That said, thank you to all who have decided to try and read this crazy thing, and who have left kudos/comments thus far! I really appreciate it.

_One Week Later_

Winter break never lasted long enough in Shizuo’s opinion and soon it was back to school. At least he had basketball to look forward to. He still wasn’t sure he was much good, but playing with the other guys was actually pretty fun. There were six of them so he often sat out to watch, but they seemed excited, about his height if nothing else. It sounded like they were even going to enter some informal tournament eventually. As soon as he walked into school after bidding farewell to Kasuka for the day, Vorona caught up with him, grasping onto the corner of his sleeve as usual.

She looked a bit more tan than usual because her family had gone south for the winter, but it looked good on her, he thought. “Hello, Shizuo-senpai,” she greeted him, bowing her head slightly. “I hope your break was enjoyable.”

“It was alright, I guess,” Shizuo replied, his mind only flickering back to a few days ago when his family was home and he was able to spend some time laying around. “How about yours?”

“Acceptable,” Vorona nodded. Shizuo smiled at her. She was a Russian exchange student, so her Japanese was still a bit formal or strange at times, but he admired how fluent she already was. “The time I spent with my family was agreeable. The strength of my sun protection was insufficient.”

“Ah! Shizuo and Vorona! There they are!” a shrill voice broke through the chatter of the hallway, directed towards them.

The two turned to find a familiar girl running toward them. It was Erika, one of the members of the basketball team, followed by Kadota, Walker, and Togusa, as inseparable as ever. “Hey guys!” Erika called again, sliding up in front of them. “How was break? Too short, don’t you think? Walker thinks it’s a conspiracy to speed up time, but I don’t—wow, Vorona, look at you! You’re practically glowing! Look, Kadota, isn’t she glowing?”

Shizuo laughed to himself. Her attention span was as short as ever. Kadota ignored her but offered his hand out to Shizuo who shook it. He didn’t know the guy very well yet, but Shizuo liked how straight-forward and down-to-earth he was, especially compared to the rest of his friends. “We’ve got our first game coming up, so we’re gonna definitely have practice after school today. Is that okay with you?” 

Shizuo nodded, surprised that he was looking forward to it. “Sure. I’ll be there.”

Kasane Kujiragi and her newest lackey, Aoba Kuronuma, strutted by then, parting the hall as if it were the Red Sea. Kujiragi was the starlet of the school’s drama department and she tended to make sure everyone knew it. Vorona eyed her suspiciously, probably because she’d attempted more than once to come onto Shizuo. She’d noticed before Shizuo himself had, but observed he felt uncomfortable with the attention anyway, even if he hadn’t known what it truly meant. Since then, she’d been keeping her eye on the girl.

Shizuo glanced at her as well, but soon drew his attention back the group, not wanting to think about it. He didn’t get her weird interest in him, but he did know she wasn’t a very nice person, nor did she keep good company. He was hoping she’d just leave him alone this semester.

The bell rang then and the group had to rush to their various classes. The hallways emptied leaving only two slow, quieter pairs of footsteps behind.

*

“Well, Orihara-kun, I reviewed your impressive transcripts. I expect your light will shine very brightly here at Raijin,” the principal whose name he hadn’t bothered to learn was saying.

Izaya was trying not to yawn. If he had 100 yen for every time he’d had to sit through one of these “welcome to our school, please feel free to test well and earn us some prestige while you’re here” speeches he’d be a very rich man. Still, it was a bit early to be earning any sort of reputation one way or another. He hadn’t even had a chance to scope out the school yet. So he formed an appropriate smile and nodded. “Thank you. I do too.”

Truth be told, he was tired of all this moving around. The places had begun to blur together and it was even worse when they had to pick up in the middle of the year like this. He was also tired in general. They hadn’t moved too far this time, but it was enough. Mostly he wanted the day to be over, even though he knew he needed to start introducing himself today. First impressions were everything, after all.

“Here’s your homeroom,” the principal said, nodding his head toward the door.

“Thank you,” Izaya said automatically, bowing before he stepped inside, eager to get away from the formalities of administration and bureaucracy for a while.

*

Shizuo wasn’t quite sure what to think of his homeroom teacher this year. Yagiri was overdramatic and a bit of a hard-ass when it came down to it. It got old pretty quickly but he was trying to not draw too much attention to himself which was why he was little irritated when he felt a sudden tap on his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. At least most of the kids were still out of their seats and chatting at the moment. “What?”

“Are you Shizuo Heiwajima?” the kid behind him asked.

That was never a good sign. “Who’s asking?”

“I’m Shinra Kishitani,” the kid said abruptly, sticking his hand out. “Did you speak to a remarkably beautiful woman who unfortunately lacks the ability to speak the Friday before the start of break?”

Considering Shizuo hardly remembered what he’d had to eat two days ago, that was usually a pretty hopeless—not to mention annoying—line of questioning but, surprisingly, Shizuo did know what the guy was talking about. “What if I did?”

“Oh, it's nothing,” Shinra said, smiling wide enough that it was creepy. “She’s just the love of my life.”

Shizuo clenched his fist and kept it firmly planted on the top of his desk. “What’s it to me?”

“Well, I saw the two of you together and thought you might be friends! So I thought I’d introduce myself to you. It only seemed right, after all—” The kid kept chattering, but Shizuo stopped listening.

He was thinking instead about his encounter with the mute girl. He and Vorona had been walking down the hall during lunch when Shizuo heard some punk kids joking around off to the side. Normally he would have ignored them, but something was off. Vorona noticed it too.

“Shizuo-senpai,” she murmured. “I believe someone is being bullied.”

He had figured she was right, especially when he caught sight of the person the kids were pushing around and specifically sight of their face. It was a girl and she looked scared. Her eyebrows were pinched together and she was curled into herself, but she wasn’t crying out for a teacher or for help. 

Finally he’d caught what the boys were saying: “Hey, don’t you know how to respond to a compliment, huh? What’s wrong, are you dumb and deaf too?”

Another one laughed. “What a retard.”

Shizuo had heard that word before and he knew how it hurt. So, without thinking, he’d stepped forward, pushing the jerks out of the way. “Hey,” he growled, glaring at them, making sure he looked as intimidating as possible. “What do you think you’re doing?”

One of the punks had tried to talk back to him, the others gathering around him in some semblance of solidarity, but they scurried away quickly enough thereafter, especially when Vorona stepped up beside him, her own personal brand of threatening. The girl they’d been pushing around had looked shocked and nervous. Shizuo had done his best to make himself look less terrifying as quickly as he could.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he’d said, never good with that stuff, but neither was Vorona really and one of them had to say something. “They’re just a bunch of assholes. Don’t take what they said to heart.” He’d paused. “You okay?”

Slowly, the girl had nodded, going to pull something out of her pocket.

Shizuo was confused then. “You don’t…have to give me anything. They were being jerks.”

The girl cracked a smile, and shook her head, pulling out her phone and beginning to type away on it. Shizuo had pursed his lips, surprised by her resilience.

Then, suddenly, she’d held it out to him and Shizuo connected the dots. He’d heard this and that about there being a mute student before but he’d never really paid attention. It was hard enough to handle the rumors he heard about himself, let alone those of other students he didn’t know.

[Thank you for helping me.]

“It’s no big deal.” Shizuo shrugged, not used to gratitude.

[It is. Most people stay away from me or don’t care.]

“They’re just cowards,” Shizuo had spat, suddenly angry that such a nice-seeming girl had to deal with that kind of thing. “Picking on someone who can even call for help.”

The girl’s shoulders shook, as if in laughter and Shizuo couldn’t help but smile a little. There was something calming about her that drew him in, even though he knew so little about her. [I’m Celty Sturluson.]

Shizuo had pondered over the strange name, turning it around in his head. He was never good with names. “Shizuo Heiwajima, and this is Vorona.” Shizuo could never pronounce her last name and she didn’t offer it, only nodded, seeming content to listen and watch. “Nice to meet you.”

The conversation had been cut short by the end of lunch, but both parties had parted ways smiling. Shizuo recalled hoping they would meet again sometime, although, for whatever reason, he couldn’t remember her face very well at all. He did sort of worry for her if this kind of guy was after her.

“Hey,” he grumbled finally, cutting Shinra off mid-ramble.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

Then he turned back around in his seat, only to find himself face-to-face with Kujiragi. She blinked slowly at him. “Hello, Heiwajima-kun. Did you have a nice break?”

Great, first the chatterbox, now this. So much for a quiet morning. Shizuo didn’t really _hate_ Kujiragi, per se, but she definitely got on his nerves. She had some sort of weird obsession with him, always coming up to try to talk to him even when he tried to make it clear he wasn’t interested—she was kind of creepy and _way_ too obsessed with the school’s drama program. In some ways, though, she reminded him of his brother. Usually she was blank-faced and level-voiced, but when she got out on the stage, she could really act, or so he’d heard. He’d never been to a play himself, but he figured he might have to eventually once Kasuka started acting in them when he got to high school, if his interest in doing so lasted that long. Her little junior sidekick was almost worse on the creep scale. He always looked like he was up to something even when he was following her around like a lost puppy. He lurked behind her even now, observing.

“Yeah, it was fine, I guess,” he muttered, busying himself with something in his desk. Luckily, she drifted away soon after, Kuronuma trailing behind her like a shadow.

“Good morning everyone!” Yagiri’s voice cut through the noise of the room and the students rushed to their seats. “I trust you all had splendid holidays.” A general polite agreement rumbled through the classroom. “I’ll remind you first of all that there is a sign-up sheet in the hall for our winter musicale! We will have singles auditions for our supporting roles and pair auditions for our leads. I’ll also remind you all that the leads will have great influence over which show we will put on this year.” Most of the eyes in the room flicked over to Kujiragi and Kuronuma who had been the only ones to hold the lead parts in any play for their entire high school careers.

The guy behind Shizuo, Shinra, cleared his throat then and Yagiri glanced up, seeming annoyed. “Oh yes, and there’s also a sign-up sheet for the Academic Decathlon team, or so I’ve been told. Chem Club president Kishitani can answer any other questions you have about that.”

“I sure can!” he piped up, earning himself another glare. For once, Shizuo felt in tune with his teacher and settled back, hoping the day would go by quickly.

*

Izaya, meanwhile, had entered the room generally undetected. He supposed he could have made a bit more of a spectacle of himself, but he tended to like to observe first, sort everyone into more simple categories before he approached anyone. He hardly had the time to waste on useless characters. He’d forced on a smile for his overweight teacher and then gone to find somewhere to sit, only to find himself distracted and, almost, in shock.

Among the sea of bland, unmemorable faces and school uniforms, Izaya found a familiar frown and shock of blond hair. All at once the events from a week ago rose up in his mind and he couldn’t help but smirk. Sometimes fate was kind.

He sat down, completely unnoticed by Shizuo and watched him tolerate briefly the kid in the glasses behind him. Izaya watched eagerly the way his fist clenched and the tension shook its way up his shoulders, but the other boy held it together fairly well, turning away before a real fight could start. He brushed off the girl who had come up to him—clearly trying to come onto him; even Izaya who’d only been there mere minutes could see that—with a bit more tact, he noticed.

The class commenced with the teacher going on about some play and some other useless clubs, but Izaya kept his eyes trained on Shizuo. He felt his heart rate rise in anticipation. Maybe this would finally be the year, and the person, he’d been waiting for. He thought he would wait until the end of class and find some interesting way to surprise Shizuo, but discovered he was too impatient. Instead, he thought of a much better idea.

Detention on the first day wasn’t really his style, but he supposed he could make an exception. Pulling his phone out of his bag, he scrolled through his contacts to find Shizuo’s number which he’d put in when he’d borrowed the boy’s phone that special night. He’d put his own number in Shizuo’s as well, but suspected the other either hadn’t noticed or had deleted it outright.

*

Shizuo’s stupid phone—which never rung, ever—decided it would be a great idea to go off a few minutes later. He was so stunned he didn’t even recognize it as his. It wasn’t even his ringtone, after all; it was some crappy, weird English song with a strange techno beat, but everyone was staring at him. He dug it out of his bag and sure enough, it was ringing.

“What the hell,” he grumbled, going to turn it off when he caught a glimpse of the name on the caller ID.

“Heiwajima-kun,” Yagiri rumbled irritably, going to grab his bucket which held prisoner kids’ phones until the end of the day. “This isn’t a very good start to the new year. I’m afraid I’ll have to see you in detention this afternoon.”

Shizuo wasn’t listening. Instead, he’d jerked to attention, furiously scanning the room although, reasonably, he knew there was no reason that—

“ _You_!” Shizuo caught sight of Izaya and barely held himself back from immediately lunging at him. There was no reason this _asshole_ should be in his school, in his class, and yet there he was, smug as ever, with his own cellphone still held up to his ear.

The class’s attention snapped over to Izaya, as did Yagiri’s. “Ah! Orihara-kun! You too?” He sighed and trudged over to him. “Don’t make this a habit. I don’t know how it was where you came from, but we have a zero tolerance policy at this school.”

The little shit blinked and somehow transformed his face into something innocent-looking even though Shizuo could still smell a rat. “Oh, really? I’m so sorry, Yagiri-sensei. I promise it won’t happen again.” Even as he spoke to the teacher, he never broke eye-contact with Shizuo who growled at the act.

“I certainly hope not,” Yagiri said, then added, “I won’t take your phone today, but you’ll have to see me in detention too. Maybe it’ll teach you a lesson.”

“Hey, that’s not fair, Yagiri-sensei. He didn’t know any better!” Shinra piped up from behind Shizuo. He was liking the guy less and less by the second. Didn’t know any better his ass. This was all just another blatant attempt to screw with Shizuo.

Yagiri, in the midst of collecting Shizuo’s phone, frowned. It was the wrong thing to say, and the class knew it, all turning back to their own desks timidly, removing themselves from the conflict as much as possible. “Fine then. You too, Kishitani. Detention.” His eyes flicked across the classroom then and widened. “Kujiragi! Kuronuma! You too?”

Apparently the two had been texting in class which was pretty common. He tended to let them get away with it, since they were his favorite stars, but today he was on a warpath. “Detention for you all then! Would anyone else like to join us?” The class was silent. “Good. Then maybe we can finally get started.”

Shizuo was still trying to think of some appropriate plan of action around the adrenaline coursing through his veins when Yagiri suddenly called attention back to Izaya himself. “As you can all see now, we have a transfer student here with us today. Orihara, please stand up and introduce yourself.”

“Of course.” Izaya stood up smoothly and Shizuo ground his teeth, the other boy’s very voice grating on his ears. “Hello. My name is Izaya Orihara. I just moved here and I look forward to working with all of you.” He continued to look at Shizuo as he spoke. He bowed and sat down, and the class broke out in murmurs once more, many pairs of eyes flicking between Shizuo and the new boy. Soon though, Yagiri called the class to attention and silence fell once more. It did little, however, to overpower the sound of blood rushing in Shizuo’s ears and he didn’t hear a single other thing Yagiri said that morning.

*

Izaya tried to slip away after class, but Shizuo managed to catch him before he could slither off again like the snake that he was, grabbing onto the lapels of his shirt and shoving him up against the wall next the door into the classroom. “What the _hell_ are _you_ doing here?” he spat.

He shifted a bit against Shizuo’s grip, but it was as tight as iron. He also noticed he was being held a few inches off the ground which was a bit patronizing. “Fancy meeting you here, Shizu-chan. Did you miss me? Have you been thinking about me since we parted ways?”

Shizuo shoved him back harder into the wall. “Shut up and don’t call me that. I know you pulled that stunt back there on purpose. What the hell is your problem? Why are you following me?”

Izaya laughed, trying to make it sound as effortless as he could although he wasn’t exactly in a position to be breathing freely. “I didn’t follow you anywhere. You heard in class, unless you weren’t listening.” Something about Shizuo told him that was the case more often than not. “My family just moved here. My whole life doesn’t revolve around you. New Year’s Eve was fun, but it’s not like I ran off to plan the rest of my life around our meeting.”

Shizuo narrowed his eyes as if still questioning the validity of Izaya’s words, then shoved him back one more time before letting him drop. Izaya fell as gracefully as he could, standing up quickly to his full height to tilt his chin up at Shizuo who was irritatingly tall. “How the hell’d you even get my number, huh?”

Brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt, Izaya shrugged in an over-exaggerated kind of way, drinking up as much of Shizuo’s annoyed expression and disheveled appearance as he could. He wondered what it would be like to see him in a real fight. “If you don’t even know that much, you’re not any smarter than a protozoan.”

Shizuo scowled and towered over him, pushing him back against the wall. Their proximity caused Izaya to lose his breath all over again. “Yeah, right. Then you’re just a tiny flea. I could beat the shit out of you if I wanted.”

Izaya didn’t doubt that. “Why don’t you? Do you like my face too much to mess it up?”

Instinctively baring his teeth, Shizuo took a few steps back. “Like hell. I don’t like violence and I’m not gonna get in trouble over your scrawny ass twice in one day. So why don’t you back off while you still can and stay the hell away from me from now on?” Shaking his head, Shizuo moved to walk away. “And don’t call me anymore.”

Forcing himself to keep his face as relaxed as he could, Izaya held his hands up in defeat. “Alright, Shizu-chan, if that’s really what you want. But, a word of advice? Next time don’t have your phone on in class.”

Although he’d been about to leave, Shizuo spun and opened his mouth again, causing a grin to slice across Izaya’s face before they were abruptly interrupted. 

“Heiwajima-kun,” Kujiragi’s cool voice cut through the almost palpable tension between the two of them. “Are you showing our newest student around? How kind of you.”

Izaya thought it might have sounded sarcastic coming from anyone else, but this girl was so deadpan that it seemed almost sincere. He looked her over, saw how her eyes lingered on Shizuo and his smile tightened. As he’d suspected earlier. Shizuo himself seemed not entirely aware of it, which figured. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I’m Izaya Orihara. And you are…?”

The girl spared him a glance before stepping between them suddenly. She pulled a pen from her pocket and scrawled her name in large letters across a sign-up sheet which Izaya hadn’t noticed before, probably because he’d been being shoved into it. The large, neat script read “Kasane Kujiragi.”

“I see,” he muttered, irritable at being ignored so completely. He sent her blue-haired lackey a sharp glance so he’d stop staring in retaliation. Shizuo didn’t seem to notice.

“Are you interested in stage productions, Orihara-kun?” the girl asked, deigning to spare him a glance. “Aoba and I always take the lead roles, Heiwajima-kun can tell you, but I’m sure we could find something for you somewhere.”

Izaya forced his expression to remain careless, disinterested, as if the whole situation were still under his control. “Thank you for the offer, Kujiragi-chan, but I’ll have to decline. Musical theatre has never been much of an interest of mine. There’s not much money in the industry, you know.”

Kujiragi’s eyes narrowed slightly at him. “All the better then.” She turned back to Shizuo. “I heard you joined a basketball team.”

Shizuo seemed lost in the midst of the conversation, still worked up over Izaya’s presence—a small reward—but had become distracted by Kujiragi’s arrival and interruption. “Uh, yeah, I did.”

“How interesting,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “I look forward to watching you play. I’ll see you later.” And with that, she and her puppy of a friend left. Izaya didn’t allow himself to spare them another glance. He’d have time to deal with that later. He couldn’t get caught up in such petty rivalries.

“Yeah, later,” Shizuo muttered, shaking his head.

_He really is a protozoan if he didn’t notice that act_ , Izaya thought. “Well, Shizu-chan, it’s been fun, but I have to get going,” Izaya said cheerfully while Shizuo was still a bit dazed. “See you in detention!” And with that, he slipped easily into the crowd.

*

Shizuo was tempted to run off to try and find Izaya again after he realized he’d gotten away _again_ , but the bell was about to ring for his next class and his day had been ruined enough by the other boy already. He couldn’t believe his terrible luck. Fate really had something against him.

His only reassurance was that now that Izaya was here it wouldn’t take him too long to hear about Shizuo and then, hopefully, he’d stay away from him. That was how it usually went. Most days he wasn’t sure why Vorona still stuck around and he was almost certain he’d screw up this basketball thing eventually. The kid was just another douchebag trying to get on Shizuo’s nerves for the hell of it—especially with that dumb nickname. Where’d he even come up with that? Shizuo didn’t know why he was so intent on screwing with him, but either he’d heed Shizuo’s warning now if he was smart—unlikely but a guy could dream—or he’d keep pushing until he really learned his lesson.

People showing in interest in Shizuo never seemed to work out. After that kid behind him, Shinra, had mentioned Celty again he realized he probably shouldn’t have introduced himself. If she sought him out again, she’d probably just end up getting hurt too somehow. It was always better when he kept his distance.

Shizuo didn’t pay hardly any attention in class—even less than usual—and didn’t hear a thing his teachers said up until lunch, his mind still circling around Izaya’s arrival and presence. He kept seeing his smirk in his mind, kept hearing his obnoxious little laugh. He almost felt like he could sense him in the school, probably just a few classrooms away. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and set him on edge. At one point the person in front of him actually mustered enough courage to ask him to please stop bouncing his leg because he’d been shaking the whole row of desks. He hadn’t even noticed.

His distraction showed clearly during lunch when he and the rest of the team spent it practicing. Or at least that was what they were supposed to be doing. He was worse than usual and kept running into people and missing shots he’d normally hit. Shizuo could tell the rest of the team was getting a little fed-up with it, considering his only current asset was his ability to get the ball through the hoop from farther distances than most of the rest of them by virtue of his height. Vorona seemed concerned which made him feel guilty.

One more missed pass from Erika and Kadota ended up sending him off to the side. “Just take a breather,” he suggested kindly, although Shizuo could tell even his patience was wearing thin. “Watch us for a little while and when you’re ready we’ll bring you back in, okay?”

Shizuo had nodded and run off to sit on the side, internally kicking himself. He plopped down and put his head in his hands, sighing heavily. He couldn’t let Izaya take over his head like this. It’d only been one day—hell, it’d only been _half_ a day—but he kept expecting him to pop out of nowhere and start pissing him off again, getting too close, talking too fast, being a prick. The paranoia was eating him alive.

A tap on his shoulder made him jump almost a foot off the ground which was extremely embarrassing but also exactly what he’d been dreading. He spun, his fingers already forming into a fist in anticipation. “ _What_?!”

To his surprise, the person behind him wasn’t Izaya, but poor Celty who took a nervous step back after seeing his violent expression. Immediately his face softened and more guilt roiled in his stomach. “Oh,” he said, dumbly, dropping his hand to his side. “Sorry about that. I was…expecting someone else.”

After a few moments of hesitation, Celty shrugged and began typing on her phone. She showed it to him a few seconds later; Shizuo was impressed by her speed. [Who exactly were you expecting?]

Shizuo sighed again and shook his head. “Some punk kid that’s been messing with me. Did…you need something?” This was exactly what Shizuo had been worried about.

Celty shrugged and sat down next to him. [Not really. I just thought I’d say hi. What are you doing?]

“Practicing,” he said automatically. Something about talking to Celty was far easier than talking to other people. She exuded a peaceful, collected aura that seemed to calm even his fried nerves. It was a welcome relief. “Or I was. Now I’m just watching. What about you?”

Celty glanced over at the court and watched for a few seconds as she typed without looking down at her screen. [Not much. I can leave if you’re busy.]

“You’re fine,” Shizuo said against his better judgement, selfishly wanting Celty to stay even a few seconds longer so he could continue to have a good distraction. He noticed where he hadn’t before that she was clutching a large stack of papers. “What’s that you’re carrying?”

Glancing down, Celty’s expression fell and she sighed. Her fingers moved much slower on the keypad now. Shizuo furrowed his brow, wondering what was wrong. [It’s…a script I was writing. Yagiri-sensei held open submissions for this year’s musical, but it’s no good.]

Shizuo raised his eyebrows. “Really? You write?”

Celty blushed. It looked incredibly endearing on her. [A little. I compose too, or I’m learning. Mostly I just play the piano in school productions, since I can’t exactly sing.]

Shizuo nodded, suddenly understanding. “Can I see it?” He wouldn’t know a bad musical from a good musical, and could hardly read music, but he was still oddly interested. Perhaps he felt a subconscious need to pay Celty back for the peace she was granting him currently.

She was still hesitant, but nodded and handed it over. [It really isn’t any good. I’m embarrassed I tried to show it at all.]

“Ikebukuro: Turn Off the Dark,” the title read. Shizuo thumbed through it, catching a few lines of dialogue as he went. It seemed pretty interesting. Not the usual boring show tune fodder. “Hey, don’t say that,” he said. He didn’t do encouraging very well, but he was willing to give it a shot for her. “I think it looks great. Yagiri must not know what he’s talking about.”

Celty flushed again and hit lightly at his shoulder. [You’re just saying that.]

“No I’m not,” Shizuo frowned. “It’s good. You wrote this whole thing by yourself. You should be proud. I’d definitely go see it and I don’t even like musicals.”

A small smile spread across Celty’s face and lit up her eyes and Shizuo suddenly got why that Shinra kid was so interested in her. [Well…thank you. I appreciate it.] 

Something stirred in the back of Shizuo’s mind then, as he remembered something from that morning. Dredging the fact out from the back of his thoughts where he’d shoved it, he asked, “Besides, does it really matter what Yagiri thinks? He said this morning that whoever stars in the play will get to decide what they put on.”

Celty frowned, her typing becoming somehow more contemplative. [Really? That wasn’t what he said when he rejected me.]

“That’s what he told us.”

[Huh.] Celty’s eyebrows drew together and her frown deepened, obviously put off at having been lied to. [Well, it still doesn’t really matter. Kujiragi and Kuronuma will get the roles like they always do and they don’t like me very much.]

Shizuo couldn’t imagine anyone not liking Celty considering he didn’t like most people but he’d immediately, somehow, found a friend in her, but then she added, [I don’t really like them either. They’re mean to everyone and act like divas around set. I had to run out and buy them a fan one time because it was apparently too hot backstage!]

Shizuo rolled his eyes, his dislike for the two growing as Celty’s fueled it. “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”

Celty only shrugged. [I’m just the piano player.]

“Well,” Shizuo said, not really believing that was a good enough reason that she should have to be their servant, “maybe someone else will come along and take the role out from under them.”

[Who?]

The cursor at the end of Celty’s question blinked again and again, but Shizuo really didn’t have an answer to give. The bell for the end of lunch rang soon anyway and they were forced to bid each other farewell until next time. Shizuo still wasn’t sure it was safe to be making another friend, but nonetheless he hoped Celty would stick around for a while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout-out to anyone who got that obscure reference in Celty's script name fff


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is a little shorter. I'm trying to split them up logically in terms of scenes instead of page numbers, so their length will vary as a result. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Hopefully that's not too bothersome!

Later in the day, Izaya sat in science class, not bothering to pay much attention to the lesson. It seemed the academics at this school were a bit lacking, which might have explained Shizu-chan’s presence, considering he’d already gone over this topic last year. Mostly he was anxiously awaiting the end of the day and, for once in his life, detention as well. He’d spent most of the rest of his time that day introducing himself to various people and trying to dig up information on both Shizuo and this Kujiragi character. He’d decided her lackey wasn’t worth his time. He had a couple of leads, but building trust with possible resources would probably take a few days, so he’d need to be a little patient. Meanwhile, he had a few plans he wanted to carry out that he thought might actually work at Raijin where they hadn’t before. He was looking forward to putting them into action as soon as possible.

There was a sudden tap on his shoulder, interrupting his train of thought, and he turned to find Kujiragi herself looking at him, burning holes into his head with her blank stare. “Izaya Orihara,” she acknowledged.

“The very same.” He would usually ask what she wanted but he couldn’t find it in himself to be that polite.

“How do you know Shizuo Heiwajima?”

Izaya held back a snort. He had to give the girl some credit; she was pretty persistent. “I don’t know him. He was only showing me around earlier, like you said. It would be strange if I did, wouldn’t it? As I might have mentioned before, I just moved here.”

“Earlier he acted as if he knew you and you called him by a somewhat familiar nickname,” she listed, causing Izaya’s eyes to narrow slightly. “Heiwajima-kun doesn’t tend to waste his time on strangers.” The tone of her voice suggested clearly that she thought he was lying.

Well, she wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t really feel like speaking with her honestly. “Meeting someone and knowing someone are two very different things. Maybe I’m just special.” He offered her a small smile, just sweet enough to be mocking, before turning back to his notebook. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to finish my work.”

Unfortunately, Kujiragi’s tenacity seemed to extend outside of things involving Shizuo, and Izaya realized he would need a bigger distraction to throw her off. He happened to glance up at the board and noticed a fairly blatant mistake that had been made by the teacher herself. Sure, she was a substitute, but that really wasn’t much of an excuse. Normally he wouldn’t have said a thing, at most glanced around to watch the other students scratch their heads in confusion, too insecure in their own abilities to think for a second that it might be their instructor who was wrong, but he supposed he could be gracious on his first day. So, he raised his hand in the air, catching the teacher’s eye.

“Yes, Orihara-kun?”

“Nasani-sensei, shouldn’t the answer be 16 over pi?” he asked, making sure to sound confident enough that she wouldn’t think it was a prank, but not patronizing enough to make her defensive.

The woman glanced back at the board in surprise. “Well, I don’t think so, but I can check once more, if it would make you feel better.”

Izaya was, of course, right. He knew he was, and the teacher soon went and corrected the numbers on the board, pausing afterward to thank him for his sharp eyes.

He smiled wider and Kujiragi turned away. Relief washed over him. He didn’t have the energy to waste on her. However, he did feel another pair of eyes on him afterwards. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the glasses kid who’d been sitting behind Shizuo in homeroom staring at him.

Rather than act like he’d noticed, he went back to staring at his finished work, pretending to erase something. He could worry about that later as well.

*

As Aoba walked begrudgingly toward the theatre after school for detention—stupid Yagiri. He should know better than to take _their_ phones—he noticed something strange. Shizuo Heiwajima—the current object of Kujiragi’s desires for some reason he couldn’t fathom—was staring at the audition list for the winter musical. Aoba frowned, trying to reason why he’d be so interested considering the guy wouldn’t know a low B-flat from a high G-sharp, but then he walked on, as oblivious as ever. 

Aoba watched him go off for a few seconds before and hurrying to catch up with Kujiragi.

“Heiwajima was just looking at the sign-up sheet for auditions,” he reported hurriedly.

Kujiragi frowned, which was rare. “He’s been acting odd today. Earlier, he was fraternizing with the new student, Izaya Orihara, and later at lunch he was talking with Celty Sturluson.”

“You mean the piano girl?” Aoba asked. He’d never taken Shizuo for much of a social butterfly and he’d never even heard the girl utter a single word. “That’s weird.”

“Something strange is happening,” Kujiragi observed. “We need to stay on our toes. First I’d like to find out more about Orihara-kun.”

“One sec.” Aoba pulled out his phone. “I’ll search his name. It’s pretty weird, so maybe something will come up.”

A few moments later, a few interesting results came up. “Looks like he’s some kind of brainiac. He won all kinds of competitions when he was younger. Seems like he’s moved all over too.” He frowned, already resenting the guy. Nobody liked a show-off.

“It might be in our best interest to move him out of the way. Shinra Kishitani seemed interested in him earlier today when he corrected a teacher in the midst of our science class. Perhaps if we nudge him in the right direction he’ll find where he’s meant to be and no longer be an obstacle,” Kujiragi said calculatingly. Aoba listened intently, always impressed with her plans. “I suspect it might be him who is planting strange ideas in Heiwajima-kun’s mind. He was very evasive when I attempted to question him earlier.”

“Good idea,” Aoba said, looking forward to shoving the guy off on Kishitani who he wasn’t a very big fan of either. “Why don’t we get right to it?”

Kujiragi nodded. “The sooner he is out of the picture, the better.”

*

Shizuo still couldn’t believe he had to go to detention on the first day back from break. Not only had he had to explain to the team that he’d be late for practice when he’d already promised he could come, but that he had to be there with _Izaya_ of all people made it a hundred times worse. Plus they couldn’t just do normal detention where they had to write some lines or something, no, Yagiri was making them do stage work, painting shit. It was far more agonizing, although he supposed that was probably the point.

He sort of hoped he’d see Celty around although he also had qualms against her seeing him in detention already. He didn’t want to have to explain how it’d happened in the first place. In any case, she was nowhere to be found. Theatre people bustled around carrying props or practicing lines or whatever it was that theatre people did in their downtime. Shizuo didn’t really care to know.

“More gold!” Yagiri ordered when he walked by to observe Shizuo.

Shizuo frowned at the piece of cardboard in front of him and tried his best not to rip it in half, dunking his brush almost violently back into the paint beside him and slapping more of the bright color onto his canvas which seemed to satisfy his teacher for the time being.

The other people suffering through detention were separated from each other, painting like he was. Kujiragi and Kuronuma looked put-off at having to work with their hands but were otherwise being quiet. The other kid, Shinra Kishitani, was missing in action which Shizuo knew from experience was a bad idea. Sometimes skipping or being late got you double detention.

And then, of course, there was Izaya. Shizuo was irritated to find that a sense of relief had washed over him when he saw the other boy again, glad to have him where he could keep track of him. At least for now he didn’t have to worry about him popping up somewhere and ruining some other part of his day. He’d already been set up with his own paintbrush when Shizuo arrived, and though he’d attempted to start a conversation, the flash of his teeth a precursor to his saying something that was surely meant to get on Shizuo’s nerves becoming familiar far too quickly, Yagiri had stepped between them, and Izaya, surprisingly, hadn’t tried again since

His silence was making Shizuo nervous since he hadn’t known the kid to shut up since he’d met him and made him suspect he was planning something for once they got out of there and was currently lulling him into a false sense of security. Well, it wouldn’t work. There was a different kind of fire in his veins and anticipation in his chest when Izaya was actually around in contrast with the tickle of awareness that simple proximity brought.

Shizuo chanced a glance back at the other boy when Yagiri went off to yell at some other people on stage, and was surprised by how focused he was on his task. His small, thin fingers fit well around the length of the brush and his dark hair cast shadows across his face as he leaned over. His hand was steady, his lines smooth as he painted, and the intensity of his concentration kept drawing Shizuo’s eyes even after he’d meant to wrench them away.

He’d thought it insultingly in his head, but there really was something attractive, something magnetic about the other, especially when he stopped talking for a few minutes.

Izaya’s eyes flicked up then, connecting with Shizuo’s and causing his heart to accelerate abruptly. He turned away, tried to put the guards of a frown and a furrowed brow over his expression, but thought it was probably too late as he saw a smile stretch across Izaya’s face.

What the hell was he thinking anyway? All the paint fumes must have been going to his head. This was the guy who’d stolen his phone and got him stuck in detention and made him feel more paranoid than he ever had before in the course of a single day and called him a protozoan, whatever that meant. He wasn’t a different person just because he was being quiet.

Shizuo furiously began to listen to Yagiri, focusing his attention on slathering the surface in front of him with gold. He swore he heard Izaya chuckle at him.

*

The silence of the space was interrupted by a bang as Shinra finally arrived. “Sorry I’m late, Yagiri-sensei!” he called which Izaya doubted would help anything. “I’ll get started right away! But first of all—” He ran over to Izaya, smiling so maniacally that he felt the need to put a few inches between them. “Absolutely! We’d love to have you for the Academic Decathlon team!”

Izaya raised his eyebrows at Shinra. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Shinra frowned, confused. “Didn’t you put these papers in my locker?” He held a few of them out for Izaya’s inspection.

Still distracted at having caught Shizuo’s eyes, shockingly soft considering they’d been fixed on him, a few seconds ago, he took them and examined them. When he caught sight of the headlines, he couldn’t fight back the frown that sunk into his face. “No.”

They were all print-outs of his various academic “accomplishments,” most of which had occurred when he was younger and his parents had still pretended they were so incredibly proud of him, before it had just become an expectation that he keep up with such high levels of success and he’d stopped trying for that very same reason. He’d managed to take some of them down, but he supposed if someone knew what to search they could find them. It seemed a little early for someone to be trying to do something like this but—

He flicked his eyes to side and caught Kuronuma’s sly little smirk. He looked like he was going to piss himself with excitement at any second. _How unseemly_. The boy was an amateur. Izaya knew better than to celebrate an apparent victory in front of the victim of the scheme back when he was in middle school. It was as good as verbally incriminating yourself on the spot.

“Well, I’m sorry, but there must have been some miscommunication,” he said. “I didn’t give you these papers and I have no desire to join your little team.”  
“Aw, come on!” Shinra whined. “We could really use your help!”

“Kishitani!” Yagiri had finally returned from whatever he’d been doing on stage. “Less talking! Get to work! Someone give him something to do!”

Pretty soon one of the theatre students dragged him away, still protesting and demanding Izaya join up. Izaya only shook his head, forcing his expression to remain entirely neutral. He didn’t want to give the blue-haired boy the satisfaction of even looking over at him again. He was planning on spending the rest of his time there taking advantage of his good vantage point to observe Shizuo and remain silent—the other boy clearly thought he was up to something and it was fun to watch him fidget. He could research more about the perpetrators of this cute little attempt at a scheme later. Izaya Orihara was not so easily shaken.

He did wonder exactly what they were thinking. Did they want him away from Shizu-chan because of Kujiragi-chan’s little crush? Or did they have something against him personally? Did they just want to try and put down the new kid to assert dominance? Only time would tell. Each of those reasons was pretty cliché in Izaya’s opinion, but he couldn’t exactly hand-pick his opponents. Not everyone could live up to his extremely high expectations.

No one could, actually, except for one, who he fixed his eyes upon for a few more sweet moments before he was once again forced to listen to the grate of Kujiragi’s voice.

“That was a gracious offer, Orihara-kun,” she said, ever nonchalant. “You should take it. I think you’d fit right in.”

“How kind of you to say, Kujiragi-chan,” Izaya said in as even a tone as he could muster, glancing up to fix her with a blinding smile, “but I don’t think it’s for me. I’m still new, so I want to make sure I settle in before I join any clubs.”

“I’m sure Kishitani would be able to help you,” Kuronuma piped up, contempt heavy in his voice. “You couldn’t find a better tutor.”

“I think I’ll be fine on my own actually,” Izaya replied. “Now if you don’t mind, Yagiri-sensei asked us to be quiet.” And he turned back to his work. He saw Shizuo shake his head at his act, but he thought it might be partially in endearment.

*

Detention was interrupted yet again about five minutes later by Shingen Kishitani who was a science teacher at the school and, coincidentally, Shinra’s father. Shizuo knew he’d been absent that day, so he wasn’t sure where he’d come from or even why exactly he was there. All he did know was that he and Yagiri had some weird rivalry thing going on, so them running into each other was never good.

“Seitarou!” Kishitani-sensei shouted. “Where’s my son? We have a meeting today.”

Yagiri appeared again, frowning deeply. “What are you doing here, Shingen?”

Shinra popped his head out from somewhere or another. “Sorry, Dad! I have detention today! I’ll be there in a little while.”

“What?” Shingen demanded. “Why?” He stomped over to Yagiri and pointed a finger in his face. “Was it you?”

“I was telling him that it’s not fair to give a new student detention for having his phone out on his first day because he probably didn’t know any better,” Shinra added.

Shizuo shook his head. This could get ugly which sucked because if Yagiri got distracted he’d probably let them out late or try to extend it just to spite Kishitani and detention had already been strange enough. There was something between Kujiragi and Kuronuma and Izaya that he didn’t quite understand, nor could he comprehend how it’d developed in a single day, but, then again, he didn’t exactly doubt Izaya’s propensity for making quick enemies.

“He stood up for another student and you gave him detention?” Shingen exclaimed, throwing his hands up, as over-dramatic as ever.

“I gave him detention for insubordination. You can’t give him special privileges just because he’s your son,” Yagiri spat back. “That’s nepotism.”

“ _Nepotism_? We have a competition in a few weeks!”

“And _we_ have a musical coming up soon as well! It’s only half an hour. Surely you can get on without him.”

Shingen’s eyebrows drew down dramatically. “Fine. But I’ll be speaking with the principal about this, Seitarou.”

“Do what you like,” Yagiri waved a hand at him. Shingen huffed once more before he paraded away. Shizuo glanced over to see how Izaya had reacted to the ridiculous display and found he too was watching the teacher retreat.

“Who _wouldn’t_ want to be part of a group with such an enthusiastic advisor,” Izaya muttered, turning back down toward what he was doing.

Shizuo snorted in spite of himself at the comment drawing Izaya’s gaze like a laser. He kicked himself for it then and all the more so later considering it wasn’t even that funny. “Something funny Shizu-chan?”

Forcing his mouth to form something more like the familiar shape of a frown, he shook his head and turned away. It was a weak response if he ever saw one, but he didn’t know how else to respond. It was hard to think of anything when there were two competing parts of his mind currently caught up in a shouting match. The more realistic side was telling him to knock it off. Izaya was an asshole, he’d proved that well enough already. Sure, he’d only known the guy for a couple of days but it had been enough. He had bad news written all over him and if Shizuo gave him any attention chances were he’d end up a thorn in his side for the rest of the school year. The other side somehow hadn’t been crushed completely out of his head after years of people keeping away from him and experiencing bought after bought of bad luck and was more hopeful.

Maybe there was more to Izaya than what he’d seen thus far. Maybe the kid had some issues like him and was acting weird because of that. He wasn’t about to go and entrust his life to the guy, but it’d be nice if he wasn’t the cause of the nervous breakdown Shizuo was bound to have eventually if he had to spend the rest of the school year as worked up as he’d been that day.

And maybe it was dumb. But, then again, when had Shizuo ever really been known for his brains?

“I saw him tackle a referee once,” he commented, testing the waters, a few minutes later after Shinra had disappeared again, though he doubted the other boy would care much even if he heard them talking about his dad.

Izaya seemed surprised to hear Shizuo say something so colloquial to him for a few seconds before the reaction was hidden under a small smile. “Really? Well, at least the team is competitive. The last thing I’d want at an Academic Decathlon competition would be to be bored,” he drawled, pulling his syllables out long over the sarcasm. Shizuo was suddenly reminded of his singing voice. “I hear they’re known for their glitz and glam. They practically defined drama.”

Shizuo couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, I dunno if you’d fit in.” He gestured at Izaya’s clothes. “Too much solid black.” He frowned, pretending to consider it further. “The red might be a start.”

There was something honestly amused in the gleam of Izaya’s eyes that he hadn’t seen before. “You think so? Maybe I’ll bedazzle my jacket. My sisters would probably be happy to help me. I’d probably need a complete makeover, wouldn’t I? My hair’s all wrong for it.”

Shizuo continued to respond, caught up in the moment, trying to keep up with Izaya’s quick retorts. “You’d need at least two more bottles of hair gel a day.”

Izaya reached up and slicked his hair back, pushing it out of his face. It showed off better the sharp edge of his jawline and the way the light caught off the pale of his skin, made him look older, more mature. “What do you think about this? Better?” He flashed his teeth at Shizuo and forced him to swallow hard and look away.

“I think you almost got it,” he muttered, pretending like he cared at all what he was doing with the brush in his hand at that point. The silence stretched out until it seemed clear that the conversation had ended before he added, “Maybe some eyeliner too.”

Izaya laughed openly at the sudden afterthought, a burst of sound that seemed to Shizuo more honest than most other things he’d heard out of the other’s mouth, lined with a manic edge he wasn’t quite sure how to explain.

“Looks like Shizu-chan can actually hold an intelligent conversation if he tries,” Izaya commented abruptly, destroying whatever lull had fallen over their interaction in one fell swoop. “I’m impressed.”

Shizuo frowned, caught off guard by Izaya’s sudden shift although he supposed he really shouldn’t have been at that point. “What the hell is that supposed to—”

He was interrupted by Yagiri, begrudgingly dismissing them and hoping not to see their faces there again unless they decided they wanted to actually join up. With that, their conversation really did come to an end, for better or worse.

*

Izaya wasn’t sure what brought about Shizuo’s sudden change of heart during detention or why he’d gone along with it. Was a short stretch of silence all it took to get him to do something other than swear and grab at him? All it took to locate some hidden peace, some strange kindness he had inside of him?

_How boring_ , Izaya thought, wondering if maybe Shizuo wasn’t what he thought he was. Maybe he was just another boy with a bit of a temper and Izaya had been making a monster out of a mutt. An overzealous mutt, sure, but if, at the end of the day, if this was all there was, he doubted the other would be able to hold his interest for much longer than anyone else.

But still, he knew that, underneath this explanation he wove for himself as to why he felt the sudden urge to escape from the situation as soon as possible, to get away from that uncomfortable place where there were smiles and laughs and banter and Shizuo’s eyes went soft when they rested on him, there was something more. He just wasn’t about to admit that to himself any time soon.

*  
Izaya fled as soon as detention was over, gone quicker than Shizuo could have even thought about going after him. He really wasn’t sure he’d wanted to, but the thought had crossed his mind. But then he stepped out of the auditorium and found Vorona waiting to pick him up, and he had no choice but to move on. The whole thing felt like it had happened in some other world.

Shizuo scoffed at himself for such a stupid explanation, but he couldn’t really deny it. It wasn’t like sitting around and analyzing what had happened was in his immediate plans for the future either, but a question rustled around in his mind throughout practice which went exponentially better now that he wasn't ready to lunge at any second, and followed him all the way home: _Who is Izaya Orihara anyway?_

He really had no answer to that question. The boy he’d spoken to during—or at least for most of it, he thought irritably, recalling his final comment—detention appeared to be an entirely different person than the boy who’d wanted to beat up on New Year’s for stealing his phone. His personality seemed to shift on the hour, making Shizuo wary, but he couldn’t help but feel like there was something there, behind all his smiles and fake personalities and easy lies, and that he’d been able to see it that day, if only briefly.

It didn’t really matter, he guessed. What Izaya did really had nothing to do with him. With what he’d seen so far, the kid probably would stay away from him after this. But for some reason that idea made him feel kind of shitty. In the end he got sick of running around in circles in his head and decided whatever happened happened. He was still letting the other dominate his thoughts which was definitely not something he wanted to make a habit of.

He tried to go to sleep but even in his dreams he saw glimpses of straight white teeth and heard the beginnings of a breathless, surprised laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets a little dramatic, but hopefully you can forgive me for it. I had to get Izaya to join up somehow... Next chapter's a big one, so I hope you look forward to it! (〃^∇^)ﾉ

Izaya spent the rest of the week ignoring Shizuo the best he could. Luckily, he was good at staying hidden when he needed to. He needed some time to sort everything out and formulate a better, clearer plan of action. It was one thing to play with someone indiscriminately, and a whole other to orchestrate the entire course of an interaction.

So, he bided his time, learned the school, got to know the other students, and gathered as much information about Shizuo Heiwajima, Kasane Kujiragi, and Aoba Kuronuma as he could. A few of his other long term plans got off the ground as well, and by the end of the week he was feeling more secure overall about his position in the school and about the days to come. The day in detention was a simple slip-up and he could easily play it off as a joke, a hoax. Shizuo wouldn’t know any better.

Still, his digging was only getting him so far, which was a bit frustrating. Shizuo had the reputation he’d expected: a too-short temper that brought along with it some interesting consequences. Because of that people knew very little about him, but that didn’t help him to identify or understand the side of him he’d seen in detention. He couldn’t quite figure out how the two pieces fit together to form one cohesive whole, and he knew better than to suspect Shizuo had been acting that way on purpose to lead him astray.

Perhaps then it was all the better that Shinra Kishitani barged in accidentally on one of his newest operations that Friday. He hadn’t guessed anyone would think to look around this old lab that hadn’t been used for anything other than the odd club function for years, but apparently he’d miscalculated. Izaya had been wanting to start up some larger enterprise for some time and this school had seemed like as good a place as any. So, what Shinra came across was, more or less, the beginnings of a small gambling ring. They were simply betting on sports at the moment and there were only a few others around that day all of whom fled almost immediately when Shinra showed up, which was an unfortunate side effect. He didn’t want them getting scared off so soon.

Shinra seemed unsure what exactly he was seeing, only let the others brush by him, frowning in confusion as Izaya looked over the betting cards the others had given him once more before tucking them back in his pocket. “Did you need something, Kishitani?” he asked as nonchalantly as possible, leaning up against the counter beside him.

“What’s going on here, Orihara-kun?” Shinra asked carefully, proving himself perhaps more intelligent than he tended to look. “Because it seemed like it might not be school-approved.” He paused. “Or legal.” Another pause. “Were those betting cards?”

“I should be going,” Izaya said, ignoring Shinra entirely, keeping his face generally blank. “Lots of homework to do, you know.”

Before he could leave, Shinra closed the door. This drew out an involuntary frown that even he couldn’t suppress. “What’s that about?” he asked, forcing his voice and expression flat. “Are you going to confess to me now? That’s very kind, but I’m not exactly interested—”

Shinra folded his arms behind his back and smiled at Izaya. “Nope! Sorry to disappoint, but my heart is taken already,” he said. “But we’ll have more time to talk about that now that you’re a member of the Academic Decathlon team. We meet every day after school.”

Izaya’s eyebrows rose in faux bafflement. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. I already declined your offer, Kishitani-kun, don’t you remember?”

“Sure, I do!” he said, far too brightly. His behavior was beginning to get on Izaya’s nerves. Who did this boy think he was? “But that was before I knew you were involved in some kind illegal activity.”

“What makes you think that?”

Shinra’s smile drew tighter with pity that made Izaya want to grind his teeth and clench his hands into fists. “Are you really going to try to deny it when I just saw you doing it? Besides, even if you do get out of here, push your way past me which I’m sure you could do, my dad’s a teacher, Orihara-kun. You might be able to evade us for a while, but eventually we’d catch you, and then you’d get expelled, and probably arrested.”

Izaya’s eyes narrowed into slits as he dropped the act entirely. Clearly it wasn’t worth the effort. “Ne, Kishitani. Who exactly do you think you are?”

“Excuse me?”

“Congratulations! You’ve caught me. But what’s in this for you? A silly little championship? Some sense of justice? Is that really worth it?” Izaya approached him in measured steps, slowly enough to make it seem casual, digging his hands into his pockets and wrapping his fingers around the object there. “I’ll tell you right now that it’s not the best idea to get on my bad side. All those other things will fade with time, but this would follow you out of high school. It might even follow you your whole life, who knows?” Shinra hadn’t moved, only tracked Izaya’s approach calmly. His eyes flicked down when Izaya pulled out his flick blade and flipped it up, thumbing the sharp tip, holding it out as if meaning to examine it. “It’s your choice, I suppose. Free will and all that. I just thought I’d offer some food for thought.” He shrugged lightly.

Shinra laughed then, startling Izaya. “Wow, Orihara-kun! You’re better than I thought! How’d you sneak that in?”

Izaya couldn’t believe this boy. He was obviously delusional or something. He didn’t exactly want to sink down to boring threats like some second-rate thug, but he was running out of options. Why was this kid so persistent? Was it really worth that much to him?

“You’d be surprised by the things I can do,” he retorted, trying one last time before he gave in and actually held the thing up to Shinra’s neck. In all honesty, he’d just managed to get his hands on it and wasn’t great at wielding it yet, so he wasn’t sure that was the best idea, but he didn’t see many other options if the other wouldn’t listen to logic. “So what do you say? Want to reconsider rescinding that little threat of yours?”

Shinra hummed, pondering it, presumably, but piped back up only a few seconds later. Izaya never saw a hint of fear enter his eyes. “Not really! So here’s how I see it: you join the team and I won’t tell anyone about anything that happened here. You can do all the illegal things you want, Orihara-kun! Sneak in weapons, gamble, even poison someone as long as you stay away from my dear Celty! Or I can tell my father what I saw and chances are we’ll have to part ways within a week.”

Unbelievable. While he was irritated, Izaya also found himself fascinated by Shinra. What was bringing on all this bravado of his? Almost anyone else would have turned tail and ran the second he pulled out the knife if not before. It seemed as though this school was full of interesting specimens. Still, it would probably be a bad habit to start allowing others to blackmail him. _Sorry Kishitani_ , he thought, raising his weapon higher, stepping closer to the other boy, trying to keep his aim steady. “Very well then.”

“Wait!” Shinra cried, at last exhibiting some nervousness. Izaya felt a spark of relief in his chest though he quickly pushed it away and forced himself to keep his weapon raised, clenching the handle tighter so his hand wouldn’t shake.

“Yes?” he attempted to put as much venom into the single word as he could muster. “Rethinking are we?”

“No,” Shinra said infuriatingly. “Just revising. I have something else you want.”

“And what might that be?” He didn’t know what to expect at that point, but supposed he had to be prepared for a trick.

“Information about Shizuo Heiwajima.”

Izaya froze, struck by the name. He considered ignoring it, laughing it off. After all, Izaya Orihara did not lose. He did not give in. Defeat was weakness and he was not weak. He outwitted adults on a daily basis, and this boy posed, realistically, a very small threat to him in the long run. Sure, it would be unfortunate to shut down as quickly as he’d opened up, but sacrifices had to be made. He could try again at the next school.

He could, he supposed.

Slowly, he lowered his weapon, flicked it shut. All of this was true, but, above all else, he knew that sometimes just the right information was worth more than even the sting of an obvious loss, a few steps backwards. Sometimes it was priceless.

And he liked to consider himself a reasonable man. No one got through this life without a little give and take. Besides, this Shinra character seemed too air-headed to hold it over his head for too long. Sure, there were enemies you didn’t want to give into, but Izaya seriously doubted he was one of them.

“Well, Kishitani-kun,” Izaya said smoothly, relaxing his expression and body language, taking a few steps back, spreading his shoulders and his hands as if preparing for a bow. “Now we may be in business. What do you say to this? I’ll attend your little club activities today—I assume they’re going on currently—and afterwards you’ll tell me what you know. If I deem your information as being worthwhile, I’ll stay for the rest of this semester.”

Shinra’s eyebrows shot up and he sprung forward, not looking at all like someone who was just being threatened with a knife which only interested Izaya further. “Absolutely! I’m sure you’ll want to hear what I know, Orihara-kun, I—”

“One more moment, please,” Izaya interrupted, frowning slightly. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be at every meeting. My time is very valuable. But if I do stay, I will compete and your team will be grateful to have me. That being said, if your information is unsatisfactory, I reserve the right to not come back. Also, you can’t tell anyone about what you saw here today. This conversation never happened.” He thought back through it, making sure he couldn’t detect any obvious loopholes in his words. Once he was satisfied, he held out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Kishitani looked hesitant for the first time and it occurred to Izaya that he really was a goody-two-shoes, and that it would probably physically pain him to not report all this, but that was the point. If he was lying about what he knew, he’d probably back out now and save everyone some time. But, rather than step away, he moved to take and shake Izaya’s hand a few times a little too vigorously, making Izaya’s whole arm flop around. “Okay, Orihara-kun! But you better be ready to work! Academic Decathlon is no laughing matter.”

Izaya removed his hand from the other’s grasp forcefully and offered up a lips-only smile. “Oh, I don’t doubt it.” He knew he shouldn’t be too hopeful, but he was already eager to hear what Kishitani had to say about Shizuo. _When every other option has been eliminated, I suppose_ , he thought. Maybe today would be the day he could finally begin to connect the dots.

*

Shizuo didn’t see Izaya hardly at all for a whole week which was incredibly disquieting. He was in homeroom, but Shizuo didn’t want to chance another spat with Yagiri so soon after the last one so he couldn’t get to him there. He showed up seconds before the bell rang and practically disappeared with the same speed when class was dismissed, as if he was some sort of freaking magician. It got on Shizuo’s nerves so much that he’d spent a couple of entire lunch periods trying to seek him out on campus, but the guy was eerily good at hiding for someone who had only started classes a few days ago.

Vorona noticed his strange behavior and eventually asked him about it, prompting him to tell her almost the whole story. He couldn’t bring himself to talk about the godforsaken singing thing, but the rest finally became common knowledge. Erika was thrilled for some weird reason and kept ranting about weird shit until Kadota shut her up.

Kadota seemed happy to at least have an explanation for Shizuo’s distracted behavior, but also surely hoped he’d get over it soon. Shizuo wished he could tell him he wanted the same thing, but sort of doubted it was possible. He couldn’t get the guy out of his head, no matter what he did. First he was all over him, screwing around and making a general nuisance of himself, then he acted like he could actually behave like normal goddamn human being, then he switched back, then he just up and disappeared as if nothing had ever happened. It didn’t make any sense and it was driving Shizuo crazy.

Vorona, being the good friend she was, offered to help him look one day, which Shizuo was grateful for since he was sure she would think of places he never would have alone, even if he felt bad for getting her involved in all this. Despite their concentrated efforts however, they still couldn’t smoke him out.

“Perhaps he doesn’t want to be found,” Vorona suggested.

_Well yeah_ , Shizuo had thought. _Obviously_. That was why he was looking. The kid was incredibly suspicious and he was going to get to the bottom of it. If he didn’t, Izaya would be free to wreak havoc on the school as he wished, tricking everyone into thinking he was a good person along the way. Only Shizuo had seen his other side.

But he couldn’t really say that. Vorona probably would have found some logical flaw in it—or pointed out that the whole thought process in general was a logical fallacy—so he replied, “Yeah, probably” and searched alone the next day.

Still, one week passed, then the next, and he couldn’t help but feel like maybe it was over and maybe there really wasn’t anything he could do about it. Room in his mind began opening up for other things, he was more focused in school and during practice, and everything had almost gone back to normal, except briefly in the morning when he caught a glimpse of black and red and white and eyes that always avoided his gaze. And maybe it was better that way, but something still felt wrong. For some reason, Shizuo didn’t want to accept that. He didn’t know why, couldn’t reason it out, had stopped trying, but he couldn’t let this go. Izaya wasn’t allowed to show up, blow through his life like a mini-typhoon, and then leave without another word. If he’d wanted to do that, he would have left him alone that first day, wouldn’t have talked back in detention. If he’d wanted that, he wouldn’t have affected Shizuo the way he had, wouldn’t have purposefully thrown his life so out of balance.

So, maybe Shizuo was an idiot, but he had to keep trying. He didn’t want him _back_ —not that he’d really ever had him in the first place—but he wanted an explanation, wanted closure.

“We have our first game at the end of next week,” Kadota said after practice Friday, looking around at them. It had been a tough one, but the exertion was a good outlet for Shizuo’s stress and paranoia and all the other pent up energy inside of him for which he had no name for that burned through his veins like electricity. “It’ll just be practice, but we should all try our best, alright?”

“Yeah, let’s slaughter ‘em!” Erika shouted far too loudly in the middle of the quad turning several heads and looking totally unapologetic about it.

Vorona frowned, probably confused about the figurative language. Sometimes she was incredibly literal. “Not really,” Shizuo offered. “She means we should try to win.”

Vorona nodded. “That is far more logically sound.”

Kadota’s expression turned a bit weary. Shizuo had the feeling he’d been dealing with this for a long time. Before he could correct Erika more directly, however, Walker piped up, “Yeah! We’ll hit them with our Super-Strength, Puri Puri Magic Starlight move!”

Vorona looked to Shizuo for explanation but he had none. He rubbed at his temple, not really in the mood for this crap. Kadota must have noticed because he hurried things along while Togusa shut the other two up. “We’ve worked hard. We can beat them if we work together and stay on our game.” Shizuo couldn’t help but feel that that was directed toward him, and looked away irritably.

“Alright! Hands in the middle everyone!” Erika called, unperturbed by Togusa’s complaints that she be quieter. With varying degrees of willingness, everyone complied. “Wildcats on three!”

“Are we still using that name?” Walker demanded, seeming disappointed. “It’s so boring.”

“It’s what Voro-chan wanted,” Erika shrugged. It was true. Vorona had suggested the name and everyone was so stunned by how certain she sounded that they’d agreed. Shizuo hardly cared, but Walker was still sore over it. He’d probably wanted to be the Meganes or some shit like that.

“Fine,” Walker sighed wistfully.

“1…2…3…Wildcats!”

Afterwards they all dispersed, moving to pack up and go their separate ways, when Shizuo felt a tug on his sleeve.

“Shizuo-senpai,” Vorona said, her jaw set. “Would you have some time to stay and practice lay-ups with me? My proficiency is still lacking.”

Shizuo was surprised, but nodded. “Sure you don’t want Kadota’s help? He’d probably be better.”

Vorona shook her head. “I prefer to work with you.”

Shizuo felt slightly touched. He thought about it, but it wasn’t like he was really planning on doing his homework anyway. “Sure. I can stay a while.”

A small smile spread across Vorona’s face, making her look younger than usual. “Thank you very much. I’ll be sure to repay you properly someday.”

Shizuo didn’t really want to think about all the possible implications of that so he scooped up a basketball instead and tossed it to her. “That’s not necessary. Let’s just get started.”

The more time he could spend away from his own thoughts, the better.

*

Avoiding Shizuo was getting tedious and time consuming, Izaya had to admit. The boy was almost hilariously persistent and at first it had been amusing to watch him try to seek him out, combing the entirety of the school grounds for him. But even Izaya had to admit when a game was about up. He had other things to do besides play with the other boy, more so now that he was watching his gambling ring grow daily. The people at Raijin were far too easy, far too eager to play. Izaya’s profits had risen almost exponentially from the first day when only a few frightened souls had shown up. After Shinra’s interruption he’d had to go through the painstaking process of luring them back, assuring them everything would be fine.

They were almost like dogs, he thought. Eager to flock when meat was dangled in front of them, easily spooked when a threat came near, but always returning eventually, too intoxicated by what could be theirs. Humans were almost always like that around money, he’d noticed. If there was some risk involved, something to make them feel as though they were breaking some universal set of rules and getting away with it, then that was all the better. It was simple: Izaya offered them the possibility of victory wrapped up in a bit of thrill, a bit of danger, and they came running as soon as word began to spread.

It didn’t matter, of course. Izaya always won. He’d won the second they turned up, won every time they came back, but that wasn’t something anyone needed to know about it. He was simply a liaison, an in-between, to transfer money back and forth, deal it out, keep track of it all. It didn’t matter to them who was running it, as long as it kept running, which was why Izaya enjoyed it so much. He was practically invisible, a non-factor, and yet he held all the cards. The others didn’t even seem to care.

And that was how it should be, he thought, which was exactly what made Shizuo such an outlier. He wasn’t supposed to care. He wasn’t supposed to try to track him down. You’re not supposed to look up behind the curtain to see who’s there and if you do happen to catch a glimpse, you’re meant to ignore it and continue to enjoy the show, disregard completely such a brief, non-diegetic interlude. But not Shizu-chan, apparently. He’d tear down the curtain if it killed him, which, while unique, was a bit irritating to Izaya because it didn’t fit well within his theories, based on painstaking observation, on how humans normally act.

Which led him to the conclusion that maybe, Shizuo was something other. Maybe he wasn’t human at all. Although if he were to accept such a premise, he’d find himself back at square one with no former experience to base his thoughts and analysis of the other on, no way to predict what he might do, no knowledge whatsoever. Izaya wasn’t so fond of that idea. He wasn’t about to go in blind.

Well, to be fair, he wouldn’t be entirely blind. He had one contact, one small peephole into whoever or whatever Shizuo Heiwajima really was, but it was hardly enough.

The fact that he was sitting in the now-familiar classroom of Shinra’s father was proof enough that Shinra’s information had been, surprisingly, sound and possibly useful—that or a sign that he was really getting desperate, but he didn’t feel like thinking about that. It was a double-edged sword, sure, as he was eager for the connection, but abhorred the idea of having to _actually_ join the Academic Decathlon team, having to sit around for hours after school practicing problems that were so simple he was sure his little sisters could do them, having to listen to Shingen blather on about teamwork or what have you for twenty minutes after they were meant to leave. But, there he sat. A deal was a deal, and he while didn’t mind carrying around a demeanor that suggested he might not be the best person to ask for directions, he didn’t want to garner a reputation for breaking off official agreements. A business was built on fidelity, not flippancy.

Such was the case that day as he sat, out of unfortunate necessity, next to Shinra, watching another of the six whole members on the sad excuse for a team write up part of a problem on the board that was fundamentally flawed in that she’d used the wrong formula. Shingen surely knew but encouraged her to keep going anyway, which Izaya thought was a bit needlessly cruel.

Shinra nudged Izaya with his elbow, and nodded his head knowingly toward the board when he turned as if he was making some grand discovery. Izaya feigned over-dramatic shock and Shinra nodded sadly, not noticing or not caring if he did that it was an act.

“It’s fine,” he murmured. “We can fix it and then she won’t do it again!” Izaya doubted that, but he’d learned trying to crush Shinra’s optimism firmly under-heel with cynicism or even simple realism was a fruitless endeavor and hardly worth the energy. “You know, we’ve never made it past the first round before.”

“Really? I never would have guessed,” Izaya drawled, resting his elbow on the desk and his cheek on his palm.

“No, it’s true!” Shinra insisted thickly. “But I think this year we might just do it. Especially with you here!”

“Well, all we can do is try our very best and work _really_ hard, right?” The forced overly-eager tone and the effort of pretending that he cared gave Izaya a headache and it wasn’t even worth it when Shinra took his words seriously no matter how exaggerated he made them.

“Yeah! That’s a great attitude, Orihara-kun! I knew you had it in you!”

Izaya thought that if he really did have whatever “it” was “in him” as Shinra put it, he would be inclined to cut it out himself. With his knife.

The next person went up to continue the problem and inevitably make it worse—Izaya was becoming increasingly convinced that the only two who were even reasonably proficient in basic trigonometry were him and Shinra—and Izaya began going back through what Shinra had told him thus far about Shizuo.

He’d learned, not willingly, but at least it had been related, that Shinra had some ridiculous schoolboy crush on some foreign, mute girl named Celty. He’d approached her and she, as far as Izaya could tell, had been too polite to turn him away. Shinra said he’d already confessed to her a few times but Celty kept insisting they only be friends. (The fact that she continued to tolerate the other boy at all made Izaya doubt some of her own mental faculties.) The point was, he’d eventually taken away, Celty was friends with Shizuo and the two talked often. She then talked to Shinra who had heard some things.

What he’d told him the first day were incredibly trivial: Shizuo had a younger brother named Kasuka whom he loved a great deal; he liked sweets and played basketball; even when he tried he didn’t get very good grades in school; the names of his friends, some of his childhood, and so on. Still, Izaya couldn’t help but find himself interested. He insisted to himself at the time that it was only his desire to put all the pieces together and hadn’t touched the train of thought again since. Still, he’d seen value in Shinra’s connections, and agreed to join his club which had earned him a choking, if brief hug which he put a stop to as quickly as possible.

With Shinra as his mole he’d begun to learn more. Celty was eager to talk about her new friend—probably glad to change the subject from Shinra’s supposedly undying love, he assumed—and Shinra was always interested in everything Celty had to say—the thought of which made Izaya want to gag—so it wasn’t too difficult. Even though Shizuo had quite a temper, he didn’t seem to enjoy being angry or hurting the people who sometimes got caught in the crossfire. It seemed his body simply worked against his will at times. _Like an animal_ , Izaya thought. It appeared that his anger, not his kindness, was the anomaly in him, though Izaya thought it could be pitched either way. Perhaps his proclivity for violence was his true nature trying to show itself. In any case, the two pieces of Shizuo began to fit together. Izaya suspected from what Shinra had said that there was some self-loathing or similar idiocy up in that blond head of his as well. It only made sense.

With all that in mind, Izaya found himself, strangely, unsure of his next move. Even if Shizuo wasn’t the pure personification of violence and anger he’d originally assumed him to be, exuding enough energy and threat that it was intoxicating, he was still something special, something different. His continuous elusion of Izaya’s expectations was something that he’d never experienced before. He desperately wanted to see more of that dangerous edge that Shizuo had shown when they first met and during their second encounter. He wanted the too-close, too-much intensity of it, wanted to feel the air rush by his ear as he dodged another of Shizuo’s punches, wanted the challenge of it, the possibility that maybe the other wouldn’t miss. He thought he could draw it out again, wanted to try, but was apprehensive. What if, instead, he received the quiet and the smiles from their day in detention? What if Shizuo didn’t go for his neck? What if whatever had begun between them then continued to grow?

He just didn’t know. If it did, he supposed he’d have to truly give up, because he wasn’t sure he could take it. Hatred was a simple thing, easy to define, easy to predict. He didn’t mind dealing in the emotion, bringing it upon himself. Others he preferred to keep to himself. Loving humans was easy: he was the one in control of it. Everything else was for them to experience among themselves. It was more fun to watch that way. To observe, he needed to be outside the experiment so to speak, detached, above, and Shizuo Heiwajima, he thought, was desperate to drag him right into the thick of it.

As he was called up to the board abruptly, startled out of his thoughts, forced to look at the awful state of the problem at that point which he was, somehow, meant to complete, he mused that he wasn’t so different from the kids in his gambling ring really. The only difference was the currency with which they were betting.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be the first to admit that this chapter wasn't exactly meant to go this way when I first was planning things out, but when I was writing it, the moment felt right at the time and I just went with it. Sometimes characters do what they want without prior permission and Shizuo kind of did that this time. I think it worked out alright in the end, and hopefully you'll think so too!
> 
> I promise we'll eventually get back closer to the real plot of the movie. There was just a lot of set-up that had to be done beforehand to make it all work. ovu Thanks again to everyone who's giving this story a chance! I really appreciate it.

Shizuo and Vorona practiced for another half an hour, until both were growing relatively exhausted. Shizuo thought his friend might have been lying about needing help with her lay-ups considering she hadn’t missed a single one the whole time, but he didn’t feel like calling her out on it. He was happy to practice with her, especially when she was always helping him far more than he was helping her.

“Keep your knees bent, Shizuo-senpai,” Vorona suggested, passing him the ball again. “It will not only help your joints, but will also allow you to build up appropriate momentum and force in your jump.”

Shizuo nodded. For some reason when she corrected him it was a little less unbearable than when other people did it. Maybe because it was backed up in scientific mumbo-jumbo that he didn’t understand. He tried to keep his knees bent more often from then on. It was a lot to think about it but it also pushed out any other invasive thoughts, which was what he’d wanted all along.

Finally, they stopped, both going over to get a drink of water. “The practice was satisfactory. I believe I have improved my form substantially. Thank you, Senpai.”

“I…don’t think I did anything, but sure, no problem,” Shizuo muttered, glad his face was already red from exertion so the blush he felt threatening wouldn’t show. 

“You’re doing great at this, you know. You could probably go pro if you kept at it.” Vorona had a way of reading the theory of anything and somehow transforming it into a realistic way that her body could move. To Shizuo it was just a bunch of useless numbers. He couldn’t read something and understand, he had to do it himself. “You’re way better than me. The other guys are probably pretty irritated you drug me along with you.”

Vorona frowned, pausing in her drinking. She pushed her hair back out of her face and shook her head. “Shizuo-senpai shows much potential. Our teammates value him a great deal. He simply needs to focus more on the game itself rather than extraneous details. And on bending his knees.” She smiled slightly and so did Shizuo. It was rare that she made a joke, but he always enjoyed it when she did.

“I know,” he sighed. “Izaya’s just…I don’t know. I can’t get him out of my head. I keep thinking he’s up to something and I need to make sure he doesn’t go through with it. Is that dumb?” Shizuo recalled earlier deciding not to tell her all this, but now he didn’t really care. Vorona was smart and his friend and if she could help him snap out of whatever this was, he would practice enough with her extra that they could go pro together.

Vorona tilted her head to the side. “Not dumb. Perhaps ill-reasoned. There is little factual evidence to suggest that Izaya Orihara is planning something and less that dictates you as the responsible party. Senpai’s kindness and concern for others is simply causing him to think this way.”

Shizuo looked away, always feeling guilty when she talked like that because he knew it wasn’t true. He wasn’t a nice guy and he definitely didn’t care about other people did. Most people stayed away from him and for good reason. The ones, like Celty and Vorona, who got too close were the ones who were too nice for their own good. “I just want to make sure. Then I’ll stop.”

Vorona looked contemplative and it began to occur to her that perhaps what her friend was feeling wasn’t what he thought it was. Still, she thought it better to not tell him so soon. Izaya Orihara wasn’t deserving of Shizuo’s time or affection anyway, so if it simply passed, all the better.

“That seems reasonable,” Vorona said, nodding. “I can help you again, if you’d like, as repayment for today.”

“That’s not really necessary—”

“I would prefer my debts be eliminated as quickly as possible,” Vorona cut through his protests. “Let’s begin immediately. Perhaps he’s still around. The quicker we find Izaya Orihara the more focused you can be on the game, correct? Shizuo-senpai can look inside and I’ll check the grounds. Understood?”

Shizuo sighed. It was true he’d never tried looking after school before. He always had practice and Izaya didn’t strike him as the type of kid to join a club. “Got it.” When Vorona got like this it was better to follow her lead.

She gathered her things and took off at a stride, seeming like a woman on a mission so Shizuo attempted to follow suit, heading back inside. It was worth a shot.

*

The meeting took excruciatingly long to end that day, especially considering Izaya had been eager to put it out of its misery a few moments after he’d walked in. In the end he’d gone up to the board and pointed out the formula error in the beginning of the problem rather than trying to finish it. It had at least made Shingen happy if nothing else and seemed to convince the others that there was a reason for his being there. Both were vaguely irritating, but the latter more so. He wasn’t looking for their approval and the fact that they’d foisted it on him left a bad taste in the back of his mouth.

At last, though, it was over. The students scattered, some having the nerve to smile at him as they went. Shinra slapped him on the back too hard as he went to go stand with his father who was cleaning up. “Nice work, Orihara-kun! See you Monday!”

Izaya smiled thinly and fled, not bothering to inform him that the chances he’d come again were falling steadily the more time he spent in that room. He walked down the hall, wondering if he wanted to head straight home or stay out on the town a bit. Ikebukuro was an interesting place which he was still exploring. His parents wouldn’t be home anyway, so he could choose as he wished.

He spotted him as he was weighing his options, a few moments before the other returned the action. He could have run, he supposed, but he didn’t. He didn’t even try, just kept walking, formed his face into a smirk, tried to look as if he really was up to no good as Shizuo seemed to think he was. It was a bit like watching a car crash, he thought, inevitable, unstoppable, explosive.

He could have turned away, averted his eyes, but something froze him, made his legs keep moving and he couldn’t for the life of him explain what it was.

*

Shizuo was about to give up and go find Vorona when he saw him, strolling along, smirking as usual, looking completely casual. Shizuo’s heart jump-started almost immediately and he couldn’t tell what the hell he was feeling exactly then, only that it was overwhelming. His body continued to move even as his mind stalled, as was often the case.

“Hey!” he called and Izaya’s eyes flicked up, met his finally. Shizuo let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

There was a pause and neither of them moved. “Yes?” Izaya finally said. His voice seemed on edge, not quite as smooth as usual, catching on something or another in the back of his throat. “Did you need something?”

Shizuo frowned. “You’re not gonna run?”

“Why would I do that?” 

Heat flushed up Shizuo’s neck. “What the hell do you mean ‘why,’ you’ve been doing it for two weeks!”

Izaya’s thin eyebrows pinched together in a mocking little wrinkle. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Like hell,” Shizuo growled, irritation building in his pulse. “Stop lying to me. What the fuck is your problem?”

Izaya seemed surprised by his outburst, but Shizuo couldn’t tell if the reaction was honest or not. “I could ask the same of you. I haven’t done anything but what you told me, Heiwajima-kun. I recall you ordering me to stay away from you. Did I misunderstand?”

“Heiwajima-kun” instead of “Shizu-chan,” Shizuo noted. Something about it made his chest tighten, even if he swore he couldn’t stand that dumb nickname. He hadn’t even done anything. He’d get it if Izaya had gotten caught up in a fight, but he hadn’t. So what was going on here? And really, he guessed, he had told Izaya that. He just hadn’t expected him to listen. “You’re up to something.”

Izaya laughed, too loud for the otherwise quiet hall. It echoed strangely around before it reached Shizuo’s ears. “What makes you say that?”

“Because you’re acting suspicious,” Shizuo spat. “You have been since you came here. You’re like a different person every time I talk to you. And it’s not just me. You’re like that with everyone. Hell, you switch in the middle of conversations.”

“What are you trying to prove here, exactly?” Izaya asked after a slight hesitation. His body language was still relaxed in a practiced kind of way, but there was something so plastic about the set of his mouth that Shizuo knew he was onto something.

“So you admit that you do that?”

“I didn’t say that,” Izaya said, making a show of acting put off, pouting slightly. Shizuo ground his teeth at the sight, felt his hands shake with excess energy. “It doesn’t matter anyway because it has nothing to do with you. As we established, you told me to stay away, right?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Shizuo grumbled, hating having his words turned against him constantly, hating how evasive Izaya was, hating how he felt himself losing control over the situation the more he talked. “If you’re doing something shady and I’m the only one who’s noticing, then it’s my responsibility to deal with it. Besides, I know I’m involved somehow. I saw how you acted around Kujiragi and Kuronuma back in detention. You pulled me into this when you kept screwing with me the day you got here.”

Izaya’s smile tightened. “Is that what you think?”

Shizuo growled at the lame response. “Answering questions with questions doesn’t make you seem less guilty.”

Something changed in Izaya then, shifted the way it always did, and he shrugged, taking a step back. Shizuo wondered if he was finally going to bolt. “No, but it works as a good diversion tactic normally. But your instincts are too good, I suppose, like some sort of animal.”

It was bait and he knew it in hindsight, but he couldn’t help but take it. The tension in his limbs had become too much to contain. He sprung forward, grabbing onto Izaya’s wrist as the other turned to get away and tossed him up against the wall, blocking him in with his body in a position that was becoming increasingly familiar. “What _the fuck_ is with you? Why can’t you just act normal? You screw around with me, steal my phone, put your goddamn number in it, get me stuck in detention, finally act like maybe you can hold a decent-ass conversation, and then ignore me for two weeks. I’m not some toy you can play around with, alright? Who the hell even are you?”

Izaya was strung tight as a violin string in front of him, his face having gone almost entirely blank as he let Shizuo finish. When he did, he flicked his eyes up as if testing the waters, then released a short, cold laugh. “Why does it matter so much to you anyway, Shizu-chan? Are you trying to play the hero, the martyr? Those roles don’t fit you at all, I’m afraid. All I see right now is a monster assaulting a young boy who was just trying to go home at the end of the day.”

Shizuo was silent and Izaya smiled like he’d won. And maybe he had a point, Shizuo thought. The word was ringing in his ears, fit nicely within his view of himself, but this wasn’t about him, and Izaya still hadn’t answered his question. He moved quickly, gathering the other’s thin, bony wrists in a hand and holding them up above his head, pushing in harder with his body until their chests collided momentarily. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

Izaya coughed out another surprised laugh, incredulous. Shizuo could feel the cold of his skin biting into his hands where he was holding his wrists up. “My, my Shizu-chan must think he’s so smart, catching and interrogating me like this.”

_Shut up and start talking!_ Shizuo wanted to demand, but even in the heat of the moment he knew that wouldn’t do any good. Unfortunately, his silence left more room for Izaya’s own speech.

“I don’t know what’s going on in that little brain of yours, but there’s nothing between us. You’re simply too boring to hold my attention for more a short while, but don’t feel bad. It’s a fairly common occurrence. You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”

He kept talking but Shizuo stopped listening. He wasn’t sure what made him do what he did next exactly. He could feel Izaya struggling against the hold he had on his hands, could feel the heat of his breath and the pounding of his heart which was much faster than he was presenting it to be. Maybe it was the unbearable heat of the moment that kept creeping up his skin, particularly on his face. Maybe it was the electricity lancing up and down his spine whenever he saw the other boy. Maybe it was the way his obnoxious smirk and laugh and face kept appearing in every type of dream Shizuo had no matter what he did to try to stop it. Maybe it was the way he’d looked painting that set piece, the way he’d pushed his hair back and smiled at Shizuo as if there _was_ something more to be found inside of him beyond just an arrogant prick. Maybe it was revenge for that night at the lodge when all this had started. And hell, maybe it was to shut him up, plain and simple, but one second Izaya was talking and the next second they were kissing, Shizuo pushing back in closer against him, probably too roughly.

Izaya froze at first, stunned immobile, but Shizuo growled again, kept pushing, and soon he was kissing back. It was messy and rushed, there was too much force and not enough skill to back it up, but Shizuo felt something warm building in his chest as he explored briefly the hot wet of Izaya’s mouth, and for the first time since they’d met he felt like maybe he’d finally discovered an answer instead of another question.

Soon enough though Izaya was biting his lip hard and pushing him back. Shizuo complied, dropping his wrists and backing away, leaving them both to pant and gather their thoughts. Shizuo thought then that maybe that hadn’t been the smartest thing he’d ever done and that he wasn’t sure if this was the answer he’d wanted in the first place, but at least it was something.

Izaya’s cheeks were stained red and he looked more scattered than Shizuo had ever seen him. He could almost see the cogs of his brain turning furiously when their eyes met again. Shizuo thought he might see fear, disgust, rejection, anything along those lines but if that was there, he couldn’t detect it. All he saw were pupils blown wide and a calculating stare.

“Well then,” he finally murmured, apparently having collected himself enough to speak. “Did that help you discover the answers to your many questions, Shizu-chan?”

Shizuo’s mind was incredibly blank. He couldn’t focus on one thing for too long, and he didn’t really want to. _I guess if nothing else there’s definitely something between us now_ , he thought, and took a step forward, back towards Izaya. Again, he expected the other to move, to run, to do something, but all Izaya did was fall lazily back up against the wall, leaning as if the universe had some obligation to hold him up and smiled just as easily. Shizuo put his hand down flat against the wall next to Izaya’s ear and pushed against him once more, drawing them back together as if they were magnets. “Yeah, kinda.”

He went to lean down and connect their lips again, but this time Izaya beat him to it, kissing him like it was a challenge and Shizuo couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it.

*

Shizuo snapped to attention, jerking back almost violently away from Izaya when he heard footsteps in the next hall over. He shook his head and tried to convince his brain that it might be a good idea to start back up now. He’d lost all sense of time and place for who knew how long. He hadn’t exactly been counting. Maybe, if it wouldn’t be humiliating, he could ask Izaya. That seemed like the sort of stupid, trivial shit he’d know.

The other boy was still leaning back against the wall, his hands pressed behind his back, giving him a knowing little smirk that forced Shizuo to clench his teeth together so he wouldn’t punch him or kiss him again. Shizuo was a little concerned with exactly how thin that line was, but he could worry about that later. For the moment he glowered at Izaya, hoping he’d take the hint and shut up. The only person he could imagine it being was Vorona and the last thing he needed was Izaya to say something stupid and misleading when he hadn’t even had time to figure this out himself first.

The gears in his head had begun turning enough that he thought to try and flatten his hair back down into something resembling its normal style—Izaya had pushed a hand into it at one point and he’d only noticed when the other started pulling—before the person rounded the corner. He couldn’t really do anything about his pulse which was still beating loudly in his ears, so he’d have to make do with the way it was. Izaya made no move to try to right himself although he was obviously disheveled.

_Probably because he’s the kind of asshole that can pull that look off_ , Shizuo thought irritably. “Hey, Vor—” he called and then cut himself off because the face that greeted him didn’t look anything like his friend.

Instead it was Shinra Kishitani, scurrying along down the hall and looking maybe a little too happy for his own good. Shizuo didn’t think he would even have noticed them if Izaya hadn’t, predictably, opened his mouth. “Forget something Kishitani-kun?”

Shinra came to a startled halt, looking over toward them for the first time. “Oh, hey Orihara-kun. Why are you still here? Did you forget something too? I was going to leave with my dad, but I stayed because the theatre department is holding open rehearsals today and I couldn’t give up a chance to go see my dearest Celty! So, I stuck around. Good thing I did too! I almost forgot my notebook here, and if I had I wouldn’t have been able to do my homework!”

“What good luck,” Izaya said, his voice dripping with enough sarcasm to make Shizuo scowl. For whatever reason though, Kishitani didn’t notice or ignored it. Shizuo thought that their classmate might be on to something.

“Oh, Heiwajima-kun! I didn’t even see you there at first.” The statement made no real logical sense since Shizuo was standing more or less in front of Izaya still, but Shizuo didn’t want to waste the breath it would take to point that out. This was guy was clearly in his own little world. His mention of Celty had made him shudder internally.

He’d been hearing about this guy’s advances on her for the past couple of weeks now. He seemed pretty relentless and Shizuo had offered to make him back off, but Celty had declined. She was too nice for her own good, but Shizuo sort of understood. It was hard for her to make friends so any remotely positive connections she could make she was grateful for. Shizuo still wasn’t so sure about Kishitani but he thought he knew how she felt. He glanced over at Izaya. _Maybe that explains whatever the hell that was_.

“What were you guys talking about anyway? You’re not in many of the same classes are you?” Shinra kept blathering on while Shizuo kept his eyes firmly on Izaya.

Izaya met in the middle once more and held his gaze there. Heat and frantic energy rushed through Shizuo’s limbs, much as it had before when he’d first caught sight of him. He opened his mouth to say something presumably infuriating concerning Shinra’s previous inane comment when a more familiar voice called out a questioning, “Shizuo-senpai?” and Vorona did, at last, show herself.

She surveyed the scene in front of her before nodding and approaching. “I see you have located Izaya Orihara. I am glad the mission was successful.”

Izaya’s laugh bubbled up out of his throat, drawing all three pairs of eyes. “You really _were_ worried. You had a whole search crew out looking for me. I’m flattered, Shizu-chan.”

“That’s not—” he began, somehow more frustrated with how he was being painted by Izaya now than when he’d been mocking him before, but was interrupted.

Izaya stepped forward, offering his hand to Vorona who had reached the group. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Izaya Orihara. Are you a friend of Shizuo’s?”

Vorona’s eyes narrowed, probably at the flippant use of his first name which Shizuo wanted to kick him for. It was implying things that weren’t true. Slowly, however, she reached out and took his hand, shaking it once. “Yes, I am one of Shizuo-senpai’s companions. He has told me a great deal about you Orihara-san.”

“Did he?” Izaya was practically beaming and it made Shizuo want to slap the arrogant look off his face. “Shizu-chan’s such a good senpai, keeping you so well informed.”

“And I’m Shinra Kishitani!” Kishitani added to the benefit of no one but himself, offering his hand to Vorona who seemed more startled than anything else to have him address her. “I’m in their class too. Where are you from? Your name wasn’t Japanese was it?”

“No—”

Then Shinra started up again, never missing an opportunity to run his mouth, and Vorona was being oddly polite and listening along, and Izaya was still looking far too satisfied with himself considering he hadn’t done anything to be too proud of thus far, and Shizuo felt all of it grating on his nerves and making him see red, and he decided he was leaving, right then before anything else went wrong.

Grumbling to himself, he threw a quick, “I’m leaving,” to Vorona before he started off down the hall at a quick clip, turning the corner before he began to actually run, hoping it would help him burn off a little steam. He could hardly focus on anything at the moment and even most of the previous conversation had gone over his head so worked up was he from what had happened a few minutes ago.

What the hell was he thinking? He’d done a lot of stupid shit in his time but that had to be one of the dumbest things he’d ever done. He’d been moving on instinct more than anything else, but he more than anyone else, he thought, should know where that got him ordinarily.

Shizuo was getting around to feeling guilty for leaving Vorona with the other two—truly a god-awful combination if he ever saw one—when he, not watching where he was going, went crashing into someone. Both of them fell to the floor, and Shizuo’s first response was to demand, “What the hell?” to the person, too worked up yet to feign some forced civility.

Then he saw who it was and his annoyance fizzled out like a soda drink going flat. “Celty? Ah, dammit, I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going at all. Are you okay?” He moved to help her up from the floor while she shook her head vehemently at him, whipping out her phone so she could respond.

[I’m fine. I wasn’t looking either.] She smiled knowingly at him. [But maybe you should check to see who it is you bumped into first before you assume they did it on purpose.]

Shizuo managed a laugh, feeling some of the tension in his spine release, as was his conditioned response to Celty’s presence. “You’re probably right.”

[Were you heading home?]

“Yeah. How about you?”

[Not yet.] She grimaced slightly. [I’m helping people rehearse for the auditions next week, but someone decided they needed a prop off a top shelf and no one could reach it. I didn’t know where Yagiri keeps the ladder either, so I went to go see if anyone was still here to ask for help.]

“Well, I could help, if you want.” Shizuo shrugged. The encounter was helping immensely to distract and calm him down and he felt, per usual, like he should repay her somehow.

Celty’s face lit up. [Really? You don’t have to if you need to leave.]

“No, it’s fine. Where is it?”

He followed as Celty began leading him back toward the auditorium. They didn’t get very far however before they heard more footsteps approaching them from behind.

“Ah, there he is! Oh, and he’s with Celty! Celty!” Kishitani’s voice rattled down the hall making Celty and Shizuo both wince. They turned to find the unlikely group Shizuo had left behind approaching them. Shizuo hated that Izaya had stuck around, but he also sort of felt like maybe he deserved this. Now that he’d found him the guy probably wouldn’t ever leave.

Vorona jogged up first. “Is everything okay, Senpai? Are you injured?”

“No, I’m fine,” Shizuo sighed. “Sorry, I just…had to get out of there.” Vorona seemed to understand and nodded for which Shizuo was grateful. He appreciated her ability to get what he was saying even when he couldn’t say it very well.

Celty’s eyes danced quickly off of Shinra and back towards Izaya who was strolling along behind the other two. She looked to Shizuo who only shook his head. At this point he didn’t know what to say. All he knew was that his chances of going home any time soon were decreasing by the minute.

*

Izaya was fascinated by the strange group with which he was currently mingling. He could only guess it had something to do with Shizuo himself. In spite of everything people appeared to be attracted to him, which was…unexpected. Then again, Shizuo was certainly working hard to bring to fruition Izaya’s theories about his unpredictability. The display back there had been evidence of it. Truthfully, Izaya didn’t know why he’d responded as he had. It had felt right in the moment, but Izaya Orihara did not do things out of instinct. No, he was above it, unlike most humans who catered willingly to their so-called lizard brains.

He supposed he’d have time later to deal with the odd frustration he was feeling toward himself. For now, watching Shizuo be flustered was amusement enough. The other had looked ready to snap at any second before he’d run off and Izaya had been ready for it. Unfortunately, he’d seemingly restrained himself. Izaya wondered what he’d do now, though, if he managed to push hard enough. Clearly he didn’t know how to act in a group of people, but what if they were alone?

_Now that you’ve bent the rules, what will you do, Shizuo?_ Izaya wondered. With what had happened between them, would he still try to attack him if the moment was right? Or would he do something…else?

Izaya decided it was time to compartmentalize and that he had other things to think about right now anyway. “I don’t know what the hell you two are still doing here,” Shizuo grumbled at him and Shinra, “but I have to get something down for Celty and then I’m leaving.” That part was clearly for his cute little kouhai. Izaya wondered if Shizuo had ever found himself attracted to her and had been rejected or was simply too dense to even notice her beyond her friendship. That seemed like a very Shizu-chan thing to do after what he’d seen so far.

“I’m here to watch Celty play!” Shinra announced shrilly. “I just needed to grab my bag and then I was heading back down here!”

Shizuo rolled his eyes, shaking his head, but let him be, fixing his eyes back on Izaya. He did his best to preen obviously under the attention, smiling gaudily at the other boy.

“Whatever. What are _you_ still doing here?”

Izaya mimicked surprise and hurt, bringing a hand up to his heart. “You aren’t going to walk me home now, Shizu-chan? So rude. It’s late—you never know what might happen. Besides, I thought you wanted to know where I am at all times. Wouldn’t you be worried?”

Angry and humiliation flashed across Shizuo’s face and he took a step forward that was clearly a warning. “ _You_ —shut the fuck up, Izaya. You can walk home fine by yourself. And I don’t care where you go.”

Izaya glanced around to check the others’ expressions, most of which were vaguely confused, a couple bordering on nervous. Ah, so he wanted to keep what had happened a secret, hm? He couldn’t say he was surprised, but Shizuo needed to take responsibility. _He’d_ kissed Izaya first, after all. And the last thing Izaya wanted to do was make it easy for him. Where was the fun in that?

He shrugged up to his ears. “Well, if you don’t care, I think I’ll stay a little longer. I’d like to witness Celty-chan’s talent on the piano, which I’ve heard so much about, firsthand.”

Shizuo’s eyebrows pulled together. He sneered and huffed as he turned away, starting back off toward the auditorium. “Fine. Where’s the thing you needed, Celty?”

Shinra, meanwhile, was ecstatic about Izaya’s apparent new interest in his favorite topic, All Things Celty, and came bounding over to him. Vorona gave him one more cool, calculating look before following after Shizuo and Celty. When they arrived at the theatre Izaya sat down next to Shinra more out of necessity than desire out in the audience while the other three headed off backstage. Izaya had half a mind to follow them, but decided his time would be better spent devising what to do next. Doing it without Shizuo around was always more productive as the other tended to be something of a distraction for him.

“They’re practicing for the auditions that are coming up soon,” Shinra explained in his imitation of a whisper which was horrible and sounded more like his normal voice but breathier. “Celty wrote this wonderful play, truly a modern masterpiece if I do say so myself, but unless the lead actors choose it they won’t put it on. And since the lead actors will definitely be Kujiragi and Kuronuma that’ll probably never happen.”

Izaya’s ears pricked up at the names. “Kujiragi and Kuronuma you say?”

“Yep, they’ve been in the lead roles for years now! And for some reason they don’t like my dearest Celty. I wish someone else would come along and knock them down a peg, but Celty doubts that’ll ever happen.”

Izaya pursed his lips, allowing his thoughts to drown Shinra out. What he’d said was giving him a fascinating, if somewhat familiar idea. If nothing else, it would be an interesting experiment, but he’d need to play his cards right. He glanced up at the door to backstage once more before he stood, glancing at his cell phone and pretending there was something there to read.

“Hey, Orihara-kun, aren’t you staying?”

“I’m afraid I can’t. My sisters need me at home as soon as possible.” Izaya waggled his phone at him, frowning in mock disappointment. “Maybe another time.”

Shinra sighed. “Alright. Your loss! I’ll tell Heiwajima-kun you left for home.”

“Please do,” Izaya insisted. “Tell him my offer from earlier stands anytime he’d like to take advantage of it as well, would you?” After insuring Shinra nodded his acquiescence, Izaya set off for home, feeling his mind already beginning to churn as it always did when he began assembling a new plan.

*

[Up there.] Celty pointed at pretty damn high box. Who’d put it up there anyway?

Shizuo stretched up on his tiptoes and barely managed to reach it with his fingertips, carefully dragging it out and catching it after it dropped before he handed it to Celty. When he looked down at his hands, he noticed they were sparkly.

“What is this?”

Celty looked regretful. […glitter.]

“Why the hell do they need glitter?” Shizuo wondered to himself, then caught the look Vorona was giving him. He sighed. That asshole. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut.

“Shizuo-senpai,” Vorona asked after Celty held up a finger to signify they should wait while she hurried off with the box. “Did your meeting with Izaya Orihara go satisfactorily?”

Shizuo’s mind decided it’d be a great idea to deliver the sensory memories of the warmth and solid form of Izaya’s body up against his and the friction of their mouths then, making his skin flash hot. He wiped the glitter on his hands off on his pants to distract himself. “…sort of.”

He could tell she wanted to ask more about the cryptic shit Izaya had said back there, but didn’t know how to broach the topic. Eventually, though, she seemed to find the words. “ _Are_ you concerned about his well-being? Is he in danger?”

_Probably_ , Shizuo thought. _Who knows what kind of crap he gets into on a daily basis?_ “No,” he said as firmly as he could. “He was just trying to piss me off. None of what he said was true, not back there and not usually ever.”

Vorona nodded, looking a bit relieved. “If I could ask, why are you prolonging communication with him? If he is untrustworthy and vexing.”

Shizuo chuckled at her description and at how apt it was. The problem was he still didn’t really have an answer to her question. Or, maybe he did, but no way was he about to tell her it. She wouldn’t understand and, frankly, he wouldn’t blame her. It made no sense. In spite of everything, he still wanted to figure out who the hell this guy was and if he _was_ getting himself into trouble or not—Shizuo thought he probably was. No one doing anything good was so evasive when answering simple ass questions.

[Sorry.] Celty returned then, showing her screen to the both of them. [Theatre people are little impatient sometimes.] She paused to type more. [Thank you so much for your help.] After offering Shizuo a warm smile she started, noticing Vorona’s presence once more and blushed. [Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Celty.]

Vorona looked far more willing to shake her hand than the other two she’d already shaken that day. “I’m Vorona.”

Celty nodded eagerly. [I’ve watched you play basketball during lunch and Shizuo tells me about you as well.]

Vorona caught on to the topic she knew more about and immediately ran with it. “Do you enjoy basketball as well?”

Celty blinked a few times at the other girl’s burst of energy but went to respond quickly. [A little. It’s fun to watch you play, but I prefer to play music.]

Nodding, Vorona said, “Understandable. Your abilities lie in the arts, and thus it would be unexpected for you to also participate in sports, from a statistical standpoint.”

Celty blinked a few times more and then nodded. Vorona noticed the time on Celty’s phone then and turned to Shizuo. At least she was in a better mood now than she had been before if the upward curve of her expression was anything to go by. Shizuo wondered if Celty had that effect on everyone. If so, no wonder Shinra liked to hang around her so much. “Shizuo-senpai, I apologize, but I must depart now.”

“I got it,” he said, waving her off. “You should have gone home a while ago. I’ll see you Monday.”

Vorona bowed and then scurried off, leaving Shizuo to heave an internal sigh of relief. That was one less person he had to deal with hearing Izaya’s crap which would surely start back up when he went out there again. Celty looked him over carefully. The backstage area began to quiet down around them as more and more students started off for home. It really was getting late.

[Are you sure you’re okay? You look like you might have a fever.]

Shizuo felt bad when her eyes were full of concern for no good reason. “No, I’m fine. I should probably head out too though.”

Celty didn’t seem convinced, but nodded. [Maybe we can talk Monday.]

“Yeah, maybe.” Waving goodbye to her one last time, he forced himself to walk out from the backstage area. Putting it off wasn’t going to help anything. But when he emerged, he saw that there was something conspicuously missing from his view. In hindsight he probably should have assumed he’d pull something like this.

“Where’d Izaya go?” Shizuo asked Shinra before he could think about it. He hoped it had sounded at least slightly aggressive.

“Home,” Shinra said. “Something family related I think.” Shizuo felt his shoulders relax. At least now he could walk home in peace and try to figure out what the hell had happened, what had gone wrong at the same time. “He told me to tell you that his offer from before stands whenever you want to accept it too.”

It took Shizuo a couple seconds, but he eventually made the connection in his mind. “ _You aren’t going to walk me home now, Shizu-chan? So rude._ ”

He wasn’t able to make it home before he had to pause to punch a wall along the way in order to keep himself from doing it to some random guy on the street because those words wouldn’t stop ringing in his ears.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I'd take a quick moment to give a shout-out to the person who helped me out a tremendous amount with this fic: my friend, Cam. This whole thing was her idea originally and she was with me, always encouraging me and helping me out, the whole time I was writing it. It wouldn't exist without her.
> 
> If you'd like to look her up (which I highly recommend!), you can check out her tumblr here: http://camierrant.tumblr.com/

Shizuo was glad it was Friday because that gave him two days to cool off and spend time in the peace and quiet of his home with Kasuka and his parents. At least when he stayed inside he didn’t have to worry so much about his temper. Unfortunately, it also gave him two days to agonize over what the hell had happened, what he’d done, about stupid Izaya and the shit he’d said. Really what had happened hadn’t solved anything, hadn’t soothed the pain that was Izaya constantly in his mind, exacerbated all the more when he was physically present. Sure, maybe it had offered some explanation for its general existence, but since it was a dumb as hell explanation he didn’t want to think about that either.

In reality, he gave it a couple hours of decently focused thought and then said to hell with it. Thinking really wasn’t his thing anyway, not when his body would inevitably move on its own without his permission when the time came, and it seemed to do that all the more so when Izaya was involved. That didn’t help to ease his frustration over the whole situation, but then again, he didn’t know what would.

On Monday he was as jumpy as the first day Izaya had showed up at Raijin, but it was a different kind of anxiety, more focused, more intense even. He was anxious to get to homeroom and dreading it simultaneously; he hoped that, for whatever reason, Izaya wouldn’t be there and was worried that he _would_ be gone.

Shizuo thought maybe he should invest in figuring out how to shut his brain up entirely at will considering the amount of good it seemed to be doing him on a day to day basis was in a steady decline.

In the end he walked straight to his seat and slumped down heavily, trying to focus on other things like basketball practice that afternoon and whether or not he would see Celty again that day. It was working pretty well for about two minutes.

“Hey, Heiwajima-kun!” Shinra’s voice broke through his train of thought. “I wanted to ask, since you’re such good friends with Celty, does she ever talk about me?”

Shizuo sighed. At least this was one annoyance he knew exactly how to deal with. “Kishitani.”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

Shinra at least had enough of a brain to back down when Shizuo sent him a firm glare. “Maybe another time then.”

In the end, Izaya didn’t slip into class until the last second, continuing with the pattern he’d begun during the weeks he’d been avoiding Shizuo which only frayed Shizuo’s nerves further. It also prompted him to, ironically, start evading the other himself, after homeroom at the very least and in the halls.

At lunch he was only too glad to be distracted by Celty’s problems. She sighed heavily when she plopped down next to Shizuo and ran her hands through her hair.

“What’s wrong?” Shizuo asked around a mouthful of lunch.

Celty shook her head slowly and held up a hand in apology. [It’s nothing. Just the drama department getting on my nerves.]

Shizuo didn’t say anything, only let her elaborate in her own time which she proceeded to do after opening and beginning to eat her own lunch. [I think I’m just upset because there’s no way they’ll end up choosing my play. There’s no one who could possibly challenge Kujiragi and Kuronuma.]

“You sure?”

[Pretty sure. I’ve had to play piano for all of them so they can practice.] Celty winced which made a corner of Shizuo’s mouth pull up.

Shizuo didn’t like seeing Celty so down but he couldn’t think of anything to say to make her feel better. “That sucks,” he offered lamely. “It must get pretty damn boring with them in the lead all the time. I wouldn’t want to watch the same people every time.”

[It does.] Celty assured him, poking at a piece of fish cake with her chopsticks. [But there’s nothing I can do about it. Sorry, I shouldn’t be bothering you with this.}

“It’s no big deal,” Shizuo assured. Sure, it would annoy him ordinarily, but, “You hear me out all the time. The least I can do is return the favor.”

[Well, I appreciate it.] She paused to chew something which Shizuo thought was funny considering she didn’t really need to do so. There was a pause before she continued on which Shizuo thought was probably a bad sign. [Did something happen with you and Izaya?] She knew as much as Vorona, meaning she was bound to be as suspicious as his kouhai had been on Friday after observing what had happened.

Shizuo tried to keep his expression blank and shrugged. “Not really. He still pisses me off. He’s still probably up to something. Nothing new.” He couldn’t tell if he sounded sincere or not.

Celty’s fingers hovered over the keys before typing out her next response slowly. [Are you sure?]

The blinking cursor at the end of her words seemed accusatory, even if it wasn’t meant to be. Embarrassment roiled around in his stomach so he stuffed his mouth full of rice to combat it. It only worked a little bit. Celty lowered her phone, but the question still hung in the air.

“I confronted him Friday finally, that’s all,” Shizuo finally admitted. “I didn’t get any answers out of him or anything, but he was acting suspicious enough that he wasn’t really hiding anything.”

Celty nodded shortly. Shizuo thought she probably didn’t think he was telling the whole truth but was relieved when she didn’t press him further. The conversation moved on to discussion of basketball and Shinra and soon enough lunch was over and Shizuo was forced to head back to class.

Turning the tables on Izaya would be more gratifying if the other even seemed to notice or care. In hindsight he’d probably looked pretty stupid running all over looking for him. Still, there wasn’t much he could do about it now. The day passed by and then it was time for practice. Shizuo did better than he had in a while which seemed to put everyone in a better mood. Kadota clapped him on the back when it was over which wasn’t something he’d dared to do in some time.

“Your performance improved greatly in practice today, Shizuo-senpai,” Vorona commented after everyone had begun going their separate ways home.

“Thanks,” Shizuo muttered, not used to all the attention. It _was_ nice to be more than deadweight on the team, he had to admit. “You did good too.”

“I believe we have favorable chances of winning this Friday,” Vorona commented in her normal collected way, but Shizuo thought she was excited which was good. 

Before she found the sport she’d been fairly unfocused, always looking for something to do that could hold her interest, but Shizuo thought she might have finally found it and he was happy for her, if a little envious. She nodded once more and then bid him goodbye, commenting that she had homework to get done.

Shizuo always thought it kind of sucked they lived in separated directions, but the walk home at least was quiet and some space he could have for himself. At least ordinarily.

“Shizu-chan,” a voice called after he’d rounded a corner heading back toward the front of the school, grating immediately on his eardrums. “Is this your way of getting revenge against me? I thought the whole point of your little speech yesterday was that avoiding someone is rude. Was it not? I’m afraid I don’t remember it very well. It wasn’t very succinct.”

Shizuo turned to growl at Izaya. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Waiting for you, of course,” he said easily, pushing himself up off the wall he’d been leaning on. Shizuo watched the way his body moved in a smooth roll. “You still owe me a walk home, don’t you?”

“No,” Shizuo insisted. “I don’t owe you anything.”

Izaya hummed, skipping over to him. “I don’t think that’s true. _You_ kissed _me_ , remember? Is this how monsters court people? It’s very odd, you know, and not at all effective.”

The sheer proximity of Izaya was overwhelming so he shook himself and moved a few feet away. He couldn’t believe he’d brought it up so casually when he’d been doing everything in his power to not think of what had happened. “Then why are you here?”

Izaya’s façade shifted a little at that, but soon it was mended. “Well, I should at least get out of this what I can, shouldn’t I? It’d be wasteful not to.”

“You volunteering to spend more time with me seems pretty damn suspicious to me,” Shizuo said, narrowing his eyes at the other. _What's he up to now?_

Izaya sighed too loud and rolled his eyes up. “Would you rather I went back to staying away from you?” He giggled then which Shizuo wasn’t aware was a thing guys could or did do. “Shizu-chan’s such a tsundere! One second you’re pushing me up against a wall and the next you’re embarrassed so you try to act like it didn’t happen! How adorable!”

Shizuo slapped away Izaya’s hand which had looked like it was actually moving to pinch his cheek hard and felt an intense wave of anger rush over him. “I’m _not_ a tsundere.”

Izaya hummed, smiling in a pitying sort of way that made Shizuo want to throw him across the courtyard in front of them. He hissed through his teeth. “Jesus— _fine_. Come on.” And he started walking, not bothering to look if the other was following him. He heard the obnoxious humming he was still emitting quietly under his breath soon enough accompanied by the sound of a second pair of footsteps along the paved entrance to the school. “After I do this will you shut up?”

“I didn’t promise anything,” Izaya said airily, looking way too happy for Shizuo’s taste. “If you’d wanted something from me you should have made me agree before we started walking. You don’t know how to negotiate at all do you?”

“Of course I don’t. Normal high schoolers don’t know that kind of thing. It’s because you say crap like that that makes people think you’re up to something in the first place.”

“I hate to burst your paranoia bubble, but only you think that. No one else would search the entire school grounds for me for two weeks straight with no tangible evidence to use against me beyond their own supposed intuition. Shizu-chan must really like me.” Shizuo screeched to a halt mentally and physically, even as Izaya kept walking a few steps before he paused to glance back and see what the hold-up was. “What?”

Scowling as forcefully as he could, Shizuo demanded, “What the fuck did you just say?”

Izaya blinked. “I said that Shizu-chan likes me.”

“Like hell I do!”

The laughter he received in response was like a slap across the face. “Shizu-chan, you _kissed_ me yesterday. Lots of times. That’s not exactly antagonistic behavior.”

“Well,” Shizuo said, scrambling for a foothold or anything that would give him leverage in this conversation to deny those words, “you kissed me back.”

“Of course I did,” Izaya responded, acting like it was the most obvious response in the world when it _wasn’t_ —of course it wasn’t. “I never said I didn’t like it. Shizu-chan needs to listen better. I can talk slower if that would help.”

Shizuo couldn’t remember being more frustrated and frazzled and irritated in his entire life. “So what, you’re saying _you_ like _me_?”

Finally he seemed to have chosen the right thing to say. Izaya’s smile got tighter and he began walking again. Shizuo followed after him, not bothering to pursue the topic further since they’d apparently come to a silent understanding over the phrase.

They continued along their way, Shizuo willing the heat in his face to dissipate and Izaya picking back up with his tuneless humming, until Shizuo realized he didn’t even know where Izaya lived—why _would_ he? The guy had only just moved there after all and he didn’t make a habit of knowing creepy stuff like that—so he couldn’t really walk him home in the first place. He decided momentarily that he didn’t care. He’d walk home the normal way and Izaya would just have to deal with it if he ended up nowhere near his house. Then again, if he walked to his house, Izaya would know where he lived which was the last thing Shizuo wanted. He felt paranoid enough at school as it was: he didn’t need the possibility of the other boy popping up at his house looming over his thoughts as well.

So, for the sake of his mental health, he forced himself to clear his throat and start the conversation back up again. “So…where do you live?”

Izaya glanced up, shaking himself out of his thoughts, and cocked his head to the side, a slow smile spilling across his face that made the hair on the back of Shizuo’s neck stand up. “Why, Shizu-chan, so forward! You should at least ask me out first.”

Shizuo balked, hating with an incredible intensity how Izaya was able to spin his words like he did. “That’s not what I meant,” he seethed. “I can’t walk you home if I don’t even know where we’re going!”

Izaya laughed, and Shizuo thought it was teetering on the edge of sincerity. “I suppose you have a point, for once. It seems like you _are_ capable of intelligent thought after all.”

Digging his nails hard into his palms to avoid crashing his knuckles into Izaya’s nose, Shizuo walked faster, hoping Izaya’s stupidly skinny legs wouldn’t be able to keep up. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” To his disappointment, Izaya did keep up and managed to throw more of a skip into his step while he was at it. The streets and scenery of the city drifted by in a blur meanwhile, outside of the range of his concentration entirely. Above them the sun slowly began to sink into the horizon, making the city glow as a result of the pure ubiquity of the metal holding it together.

Izaya’s smile turned small and sad which was actually worse, somehow, than the creepily pleased one from before. “If you need me to explain it I think I’ll have to take it back.”

Shizuo huffed something between a sigh and snarl. “How the hell do you not get punched in the face every day, the way you always talk?”

“Most people just have more self-control over their urges than you do, Shizu-chan,” Izaya practically sang as if he’d had the retort planned the whole time and Shizuo caught the suggestive undertone in his voice as he was meant to.

Most of his mind was occupied with his irritation about the situation, but the rest was experiencing the same strange disconnect as it always did ever since the day they’d been together in detention. He kept trying to make a connection between the boy in front of him and the boy he’d talked to and joked with that day. Which one was the mask? Why did he act so weird in the first place? They were only in high school. This kid acted as if he was involved with the yakuza and needed to make himself as unreadable as possible at all times.

_Hell maybe he is_ , Shizuo thought, the contemplation distracting him from the adrenaline rushing through his veins. _I wouldn’t put it past him_. Still, something inside him insisted that other guy who seemed like someone Shizuo might want to get to know was in there somewhere and, whether he liked to admit it or not, his instincts weren’t usually wrong. Maybe it was a trick but there had been something honest and whole in his words that day, nothing like his usual flimsy charades and jabs. Looking at this Izaya was like looking down into an empty hole, and ordinarily, with pricks like him, that was all there was, but Shizuo, against his better judgement, couldn’t help but think maybe there was something else there and it was simply too dark yet for him to see it.

“Don’t worry,” Izaya was saying, snapping Shizuo back the present. “I’m not going home yet anyway.”

“Where _are_ you going then?” Shizuo asked before he could stop himself.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Wouldn’t be better to keep you in the dark? It’d fuel that little theory of yours that I’m up to no good, and it’s fun to keep you on your toes. Besides if it seems like there’s nothing left for you to sniff out, you’d probably stop chasing me around, wouldn’t you? I’d hate for you to get bored.”

_Ah, there_. Shizuo thought he could hear Izaya’s words bending into—most likely—accidental honesty. He watched the other’s eyes dance off across the road, not focusing on anything in particular, watched him dig his hands deep into his pockets and keep them there from where they’d been swinging carelessly at his sides before. “Yeah, that’d probably be a relief for you and that’s the last thing I want,” he said, placing his words more carefully than before. He could hardly do what Izaya did, say exactly what he needed to say to get the other to respond in a particular way or talk like he knew what Izaya would say before he said it, but he could figure out which places to poke at to eke out a reaction. If nothing else, having a little sibling taught you that much.

Izaya was still avoiding his eyes, but something in his expression twitched. “So glad you see it my way then.”

He went back to humming and Shizuo couldn’t think of what else to say to keep the conversation going, so the tension of the moment slowly relaxed between them. Shizuo realized he was still walking toward his house even though that was what he’d been trying to avoid, but couldn’t think much about it because Izaya started talking again, his shoulders relaxed and back once more, his expression firmly mended.

“Hey, Shizu-chan,” he piped up. “As amusing as your company is in and of itself, I let you walk me home because I have a proposition for you.”

Shizuo mind flew in several scattered directions. First of all, he felt vaguely outraged at words “ _let you_ ,” as if the guy hadn’t been hanging around for the express purpose of _forcing_ him to do just that. Not to mention he very clearly _wasn’t_ walking him home because Izaya had some weird suspicious shit to do after this, apparently, anyway. And the idea of a “proposition” from Izaya felt like an offer of a hug from a boa constrictor.

“Like I want to get involved in whatever shady shit you’re doing,” Shizuo grumbled.

“Oh I don’t know,” Izaya said, shrugging in the over-exaggerated he always did. “I think you’d make a decent bodyguard with your size. But that’s not actually what I wanted to talk about.”

“I still don’t want to hear it,” Shizuo said firmly. Even if Izaya’s proposition had something to do with them somehow labelling whatever this thing was between them. Especially then.

“Really? Even if it involves your cute little friend? What was her name? Celty?”

Shizuo spun more quickly than he’d intended, stopping where he was to grab at Izaya’s shoulder before he could think it through, forcing him to an abrupt stop. He could feel the outline of Izaya’s bones sharp under his hand he was squeezing so hard. He’d heard Celty’s name in that tone of voice like Izaya had something planned and had reacted. “You stay away from her,” he demanded, catching Izaya’s gaze and holding it forcibly. Seeing her hurt once was bad enough. “That better not have been a threat because if you do anything to her, I’ll make you wish you’d never come to Ikebukuro and I’ll make sure you can’t come back.”

Izaya did pull back, jerked slightly in surprise because of his outburst, dragged tension against Shizuo’s hold, but, to Shizuo’s surprise, something also lit up in his eyes, almost manic and dangerous. It was anticipatory and eager, and it caused the gold of the reposing sun to catch in the glint of his stare and it made Shizuo draw back, releasing his grip, even as Izaya was leaning forward.

Foot traffic passed around them, weaving as if they were nothing more than two misplaced lampposts as the two considered each other. Eventually Izaya broke the silence once more. “Wow,” he said, sounding oddly breathless even as he worked visibly to compose his expression into something more contained. “Shizu-chan’s flirting is certainly original. I’ve never had someone threaten my life before.”

Shizuo sighed, the unused adrenaline that had been flooring through him jittering out through his slightly shaking limbs. “I’m serious. Stay away from her.” He didn’t understand exactly what was with Izaya’s expression just now and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. He’d never had anyone look at him like that before and it was drawing heat to the surface of his skin again right after he thought he’d rid himself of it.

“I don’t plan to do anything _bad_ to her,” Izaya laughed. “I actually want to help her.”

Shizuo snorted. “And I’m a member of the Diet.”

“Ooh, Shizu-chan knows the name of our country’s governmental body. I’m impressed,” Izaya cooed. “Still, you shouldn’t disregard such a generous offer so easily. At least hear what the other person has to say first.”

“Why should I?” Shizuo asked although he was curious in a revolted sort of way to figure out what Izaya had in mind.

“Is there something _else_ you’d rather talk about?” Izaya drawled, the suggestive tone swinging his voice down.

Shizuo hated how kept hinting to what had happened, how easily he talked about it as if it was something to drag out into the open and make fun of rather than something to pretend had never happened in the first place. He hated how he’d unwillingly given the other boy this power over him, this private knowledge which Shizuo hadn’t shared with anyone else. It felt like he’d offered to give Izaya a leg up to somewhere he couldn’t reach and he’d gone and stepped on his face instead.

“Like I’d have anything to talk about with _you_.”

“Great! Then be quiet for a minute and let me tell you what I have in mind.” Izaya paused for what seemed like simple dramatic effect rather than to actually gather his thoughts like a normal person which only pissed Shizuo off further. “Do you remember the night we first met?”

Like he could forget. “Unfortunately. What about it?”

Izaya laughed. “You _do_ have a sense of humor. That’s good to know.” He didn’t seem offended in the least by Shizuo’s insinuation or disparaging tone. “It’s come to my attention that your dear friend Celty has composed a piece for this year’s musical. Unfortunately, she doubts it will be chosen as, most likely, Kujiragi-chan and Kuronuma-kun will win the leading roles and the right to pick what they want to put on.”

Shizuo couldn’t figure out how he’d found all this out until he remembered Shinra existed and that he ran his mouth a kilometer a minute more often than not. “Yeah, so? What’s it to you?”

“It’s not about _me_ ,” Izaya insisted, holding his hands up as if in defense, although Shizuo doubted that. “It’s about how _you_ could help your friend, if you were willing.”

“Please. Guys like you don’t do shit like that out of the goodness of their hearts.”

Izaya started putting on his little victim act which was beginning to wear on Shizuo’s nerves with how familiar it was becoming, gasping slightly, putting his hands over his heart. “I’m hurt, Shizu-chan!” The _how could you say such a thing?_ went unspoken.

“Because I’m right,” Shizuo said, feeling sure of himself for once and even if he wasn’t like hell he was gonna let Izaya see him waver.

Izaya’s expression melted down into another smile that kept a wry edge, but looked almost proud in some aspects. “Well, I’m certainly not one to refuse any benefits that may come my way. Let’s just say it’s in both of our interests if the little boring, old scenario I talked about before were to not take place.”

Shizuo shook his head at the other’s blatant, consistent insincerity and lack of ability to back up his statements from one sentence to the next. “So what?”

“Well, I was caught up in reverie of that night the other day and I had an idea.” He paused then, acting as if he wouldn’t keep talking until Shizuo prompted him on, as if he was the one who’d wanted to hear the story in the first place, which he _wasn’t_.

“Yeah? And?” Bumping into him purposefully, Shizuo knocked Izaya almost off the sidewalk, but the other caught his balance in time acting as if he’d wanted to walk right along the edge in the first place and laughing again as he did. 

“I just remembered what a good show the two of us put on together and thought we might be able to give Kujiragi-chan and Kuronuma-kun a run for their money. Then Celty could put on her show and everyone would win, ne?”

Shizuo tried to understand what Izaya had said but was unable. Because it sounded like he was suggesting that the two of them audition for the play, together no less, somehow be chosen for the goddamn lead roles in the musical, and then proceed to play them in front of the whole school, since that’s what being chosen to play a part usually entailed if he’d been told correctly. Unsure what else to do, he laughed, the thought of it too ridiculous even in his mind. “That’s a good one. You and me in a school musical together. Real funny, Izaya.”

“I’m not joking, Shizu-chan,” Izaya murmured, his tone turning cool and serious. “You know we sounded good together. Why not put our voices to use to help sweet, little Celty put on her play?”

The scary thing was Izaya’s idea wasn’t even that bad or far-fetched, except for all the ways that it was. Of course he’d love to help Celty and, if he cared to think about it, would probably agree that the theatre program could do with some diversity, but did Izaya really think _they_ could beat out Kujiragi and Kuronuma? Not to mention, even if they did, there was no way Shizuo was about to go up and sing and dance and whatever the hell else in front of everyone. He drew enough negative attention to himself as it was. He didn’t need to garner a reputation for being interested in theatre while he was at it. He’d just end up embarrassing himself and messing the whole thing up for anyone who really did care about putting on a good show.

“No way,” he said, stopping to turn and face Izaya. They’d ended up next to a park so at least they had a place to step off to the side while they spoke. “If you want to audition, that’s fine—better than whatever suspicious crap you’re doing now—but count me out.”

Izaya pouted. “Why not? It won’t sound as good if it’s only me.”

“I don’t care,” Shizuo grumbled, feeling shame swell in his chest at the very thought of it. “I’m not gonna go up there and embarrass myself in front of everyone.”

“Not even for Celty?” The other’s words took his shame and twisted it into guilt as he remembered how disappointed Celty had looked when she’d told him about Yagiri dissing her play. Still, that wasn’t him. He wasn’t the guy who magically saved the day. He wasn’t the guy who got it right and fixed everything. Trying something like this was asking for trouble with him involved, and he didn’t really get it, but a lot of people seemed to care about this thing. He didn’t want to ruin it for them. “You wouldn’t even try? I can’t guarantee we’d even make it past the preliminary auditions, but what could it hurt?” Izaya’s voice was sweet, full of promises Shizuo knew weren’t his to make and happy endings that would never come true.

Shizuo sighed, leaning up against the bench behind him and looking up at the sky. Most of him was still screaming _No!_ and he wasn’t one to second guess his instinctual responses, but for once he wasn’t sure. _What could it hurt?_ Well, considering his track record, probably a lot of people, his pride included among them. His eyes drifted back down to Izaya who was smiling invitingly even while he surveyed Shizuo in a more clinical fashion. Shizuo’s gaze came down as Izaya’s slid up and they met somewhere in the middle.

“Why don’t you think about it?” Izaya suggested easily. “We have a little time. Not much, but some. You can sleep on it and get back to me tomorrow.”

The other’s smile grew strained slightly at the extended silence, but relaxed at the corners once more when Shizuo finally agreed: “Fine. Don’t get your hopes up though.”

Izaya laughed. “I’ll do my best.” He glanced around, acting as if he’d only just noticed where they were. “I should get going. Lots of suspicious things to do, you know.”

Shizuo eyed the setting sun, inviting darkness into the deepest corners of Ikebukuro already, and then drew his eyes back to Izaya who’d shoved his hands back in his pockets. “You sure you don’t actually want me to walk you home?”

Izaya blinked a couple of times, caught off-guard by the offer, but Shizuo could see his teeth again soon enough. “It’s kind of you to offer, but there’s no need to be concerned. I can take care of myself.”

Shizuo pushed up off the bench, taking a step toward Izaya. “Who said I was concerned? I just don’t want you out causing trouble.”

The honest laughter was back and Shizuo didn’t like the string of positive adjectives his mind kept trying to attribute to the sound. “Ah, your responses are so refreshing, Shizu-chan. Caring for someone you kissed, ah, that’s far too predictable, hm?”

_Again with this?_ It was like being tugged back and forth between subjects he didn’t want to think about. Of course, it was hard _not_ to think about it when Izaya was suddenly lurching forward, arching up into Shizuo, fitting their lips together again, too hard and too fast. Shizuo lifted his hand up to press it against Izaya’s jaw or into his hair or something, but he was already gone, skipping backward and waving jauntily at Shizuo. His smile was bright even in the steadily falling darkness around them. “Don’t forget about what I said, okay? Bye-bye, Shizu-chan!” And then he was dashing off, disappearing expertly into the crowd.

Shizuo didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to think. He barely knew what had even happened in the past half hour or so. The only thing he did know was that his brain didn’t start working again properly until he was unlocking the gate to his house, having only returned home on instinct rather than on a decisive thought of his own.

*

Izaya didn’t particularly like the idea of giving Shizuo another day to think about it, but he could be patient. He would have to be, it seemed, as Shizuo’s brain took twice the amount of time as normal peoples’ to process certain information that really wasn’t that difficult. At least it hadn’t been an automatic no, but what if it had been? Shizu-chan wore decisive very well, in Izaya’s opinion.

He wasn’t sure what to think about his little parting gesture. _A bribe? Maybe._ It was fun to play with Shizuo. His buttons were easy to push, but you never knew what they did. It was always something new and it was exhilarating. He could still feel Shizuo’s fingers tight on his shoulder, digging into his skin, could hear the sharp edge of danger in his voice when he’d gone to defend Celty. There was something wonderfully addictive about how it felt to be the object in his sights, the target in this little game. It made him want to come back for more.

And maybe, for the sake of his safety, that wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

_A reward then?_ He didn’t have an answer he felt like settling on, but it was no matter.

Izaya didn’t want to be up on stage putting on some ridiculous show for the other students any more than Shizuo probably did—it wasn’t for the same reasons, but that was beside the point—but he couldn’t help but imagine the looks on Kujiragi and Kuronuma’s faces if the two of them did get the leading roles. To have something they were so sure of ripped out from under them, well, it would certainly be fitting revenge for the irritating situation he found himself now in because of them. It would also teach them that he wasn’t someone they could exert their power over and feel assured that he would simply sit back and take it.

No, he held the pieces in this game and they would have to learn that the hard way now.

If it didn’t work out, it was no matter. Shizuo wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened. He was far too embarrassed to want to and too naïve to think of using it as some sort of blackmail. But the further he walked on into the night, enjoying watching the city come to life around him, the more he decided it _would_ , one way or another, even if he had to decide for Shizuo himself. He could always go up to Celty and tell her what “they” planned to do. What would Shizuo do then? He was far too kind to tell her no and disappoint her like that.

_Much, much too kind_ , Izaya thought. Shizuo was something of a paradox, really. He thought back to Shizuo’s seemingly genuine offer to take him home even after he’d resisted doing just that in the first place. Those soft words felt so different from the threats and sharp, quick retorts he was usually able to earn. It was strange and Izaya was unsure what to do with the feeling. So, he set it aside, shaking his head.

_Poor Shizu-chan_ , he thought. Someone was going to take advantage of him someday and he wouldn’t have the foresight to see it coming in the least, if he let himself be vulnerable like that to anyone and everyone. However, that was also why he’d make the perfect accomplice: Kujiragi had a rather obvious attraction to him and wouldn’t dare believe he try to do something so obviously antagonistic toward her.

It would be a perfect surprise. Everything would go as planned. Izaya could hardly wait.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters seem to keep getting longer, even though I'm not doing it on purpose at all, so I'm sorry for that. Hopefully it's not too bothersome. We're closer to being back on track original HSM plot-wise though, so that's something.
> 
> As always, a big thanks to everyone reading along, and especially to those who take the time to leave kudos/comments! ^-^

Shizuo found himself in the midst of another night where he was supposed to be thinking something through, and that _never_ happened. Shizuo didn’t think things through. He did, and that was it. And it probably had something to do with the fact that he wasn’t particularly good at thinking things through in the first place. His mind went in circles, and he got irritated and eventually gave up.

It was the same thing as always that night and Shizuo found himself in the middle of playing a videogame in an effort to direct his attention elsewhere when Kasuka walked in and sat down next to him. Shizuo glanced up, a little surprised.

He hadn’t seen his brother much since they’d come back from break, much to his disappointment: he’d been busy with basketball practice and other things—smirky, red-eyed things with unfairly soft lips that laughed too much and inevitably gave him a headache—and Kasuka had had a lot of homework as of late. It was nice to sit next to him again in the familiarity of their living room.

“You seem tense,” Kasuka commented simply. He didn’t ask any questions, didn’t push for more, simply mentioned it and, well, Shizuo couldn’t exactly say that he was wrong.

Shizuo sighed. He didn’t want to bother his brother with something like this, didn’t want to even talk about Izaya with him really, but Kasuka really was a good listener and he’d always been too nice to him, especially when he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to express how much he loved his brother and how much he appreciated him. He wanted to set a good example for him, but he could never seem to do it correctly.

“Sorta,” he grumbled, wincing when he died again. Kasuka held out a hand wordlessly and Shizuo surrendered the controller immediately, drawing his legs up onto the couch while he watched his brother pick up where he’d left off, undeniably fighting better and smarter than he had been. “It’s… I have this friend who I could help if I did something, but I don’t really want to do it.”

Kasuka blinked and took down another enemy in response.

“I feel like I’ll mess everything up if I do. Besides, it’d be embarrassing and…it doesn’t seem like me.”

“Then don’t do it,” Kasuka suggested as if he was helping Shizuo decide between types of cup ramen.

“But it would mean a lot to my friend if I did, I think.”

Kasuka nodded slightly, his thumbs moving quicker than before. Shizuo looked at them rather than the endless enemies perishing on screen. “Which is worth more to you, how your friend would feel if you did it, or how you would feel?”

Shizuo pondered that briefly, always impressed by how smart his brother really was. “I think I’m just scared to try something new. It hasn’t really worked out for me in the past.”

“You’ll never know unless you try,” Kasuka said, with perhaps a bit more insistence than before. His eyes flicked briefly over toward Shizuo. “Maybe talk to your friend first too.”

Shizuo thought that was a pretty good idea, even if he wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking to Kasuka about anymore. So, the next morning he hurried off to find Celty before Izaya could get to him. He couldn’t ever remember being at school so early. Luckily he found her, practicing a piece that sounded pretty complicated to him on the piano.

She jumped when he came up and had to get up to go grab her phone. [Shizuo? What are you doing here? Did you need something?]

“Yeah, sort of,” he said, unsure how to say what he needed to next. “I think I might have a way to get your play chosen.”

Celty’s eyebrows raised. [You’re not going to…get rid of them are you?]

Shizuo laughed in surprise, though he couldn’t tell how serious she was being. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t too ridiculous a suggestion considering his track record. “No. I’m talking about something else. I can’t guarantee that it would work. It might even go completely wrong, but…do you think it’s worth a shot?”

Celty pursed her lips to the side. [I mean, that’d be great, but you really haven’t given me much to go off of.] She blinked, seeming to realize something, and began typing frantically. [Did you find someone else who might want to audition??]

“Maybe,” Shizuo forced himself to say, watching Celty’s face light up. “Like I said, it’s probably a long shot.”

[No way! Any shot is better than no shot. Until now Kujiragi and Kuronuma haven’t even had any competition. No one else signed up. Please, I’ll beg them myself if you give me their names. I’ll sick Shinra on them. He’d do it.] Celty looked grimly serious about that last point and Shizuo was glad there wasn’t actually some imaginary other party that would have to feel the full force of Kishitani’s irritating persistence bolstered forth by the sheer creepy joy he’d certainly be drowning in if Celty actually asked something of him.

“No, it’s fine,” he insisted. “I can tell them. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

Celty waved a hand around. [I won’t. But I think all of us would like to hear someone else audition if only to change things up.]

Slowly, Shizuo nodded, steeling himself on the decision. It was completely crazy.

Hell, _he_ was crazy.

But he was going to try it. For Celty, and for Kasuka, and for the chance to maybe do something right for once. He still didn’t really think they had half a chance, but, even if he hadn’t admitted it to himself at the time, they had sounded pretty damn good together that night.

And if he couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that it would be Izaya he was doing this with, well, that was probably for the best.

*

Shizuo stopped Izaya after homeroom. Yagiri had announced the auditions would be this coming Thursday already which had put him on edge enough to decide he didn’t feel like waiting till the end of the day or whenever Izaya decided to make his next appearance to tell him. He also didn’t think he could handle another day of walking him home.

“Hey,” he said, catching at Izaya’s shoulder before he remembered what had happened the day before and jerked his hand back. For all he knew the other boy had bruises.

Izaya didn’t seem to mind though, only tracked the path of his hand in a lazy sort of way before he deigned to meet Shizuo’s eyes. “Come to a decision already, have we? That was pretty fast. I’m impressed.”

Shizuo rolled his eyes. “Would you rather I waited until Thursday?”

The other shrugged. “It would have been more dramatic. I would have been there, nervous and out of place, until you stepped out from the shadows right before I had to go on. And you’d say something silly and self-sacrificial like ‘Wait! I’ll sing with him!’.” Shizuo shook his head at the other’s horrible impression of himself. The deeper octave of it strained against his voice. “And then you’d come and sweep me off my feet and we’d sing together again.” Izaya smiled, pleased with his little story.

Shizuo scoffed, cringing internally at the image the description had brought to mind. “Like that would ever happen.” Izaya’s imagination was scarier than he’d thought.

“Of course it wouldn’t! That’s why I said it _would have been_. Shizu-chan needs to listen better,” Izaya corrected obnoxiously, just to make a show out of it, which seemed to be the case for most things he did.

“I wouldn’t have to try so hard to figure out what hell you’re saying if you didn’t talk so much about nothing,” Shizuo retorted, feeling telltale irritation begin to build within him and forcing himself to picture Celty to combat it. _You’re doing this for her. Shut up and do something right for once_. “Whatever. I have to get to class. But fine.”

Izaya’s eyebrows pulled together. “There’s a difference between being succinct and not making any sense when you talk, and I’m not so sure you know the difference.”

Of course he’d make him say it. Everything had to be as painfully drawn-out and embarrassing as possible with Izaya, or so quick and random he didn’t know what the hell had happened in the first place, there was no in-between. “I meant _fine_ I’ll do the damn audition with you. For Celty’s sake. If this whole thing is part of some big, dumbass plan though, I don’t want any part in it. Got it?”

Izaya’s whole face seemed to curve up. “Of course. I’m so glad you’ve come around to the idea. I’m sure dear Celty will be very grateful.” Shizuo thought that was meant to be reassuring, but, ironically, it only made him more nervous. “I’ll drop by later to talk about times to rehearse, okay?”

“Times to—hey, get back here!” he called but only earned himself a few strange looks in the process. Izaya was already gone, lost in the crowd. He sighed, turning to head toward his classroom. For a guy who never knew when to call it quits, Izaya sure was good at running away when he needed to.

At least he’d done it. He’d more or less sealed his fate. He supposed only time would tell whether this decision would join the others in eventually coming back around to kick his ass or not.

*

Izaya was fairly pleased with Shizuo’s quick decision. He supposed Celty had something to do with that herself. This meant he could put things in motion now.

Auditions were at the end of the week, so they needed to get moving. Izaya decided not to go to the Academic Decathlon meeting that day. He was far too busy to be bothering with such trivialities and it wasn’t like he was improving any by sitting around watching the rest of the team struggle. He _did_ still have to wait around for Shizuo to finish with his silly basketball practice though, so he evened out some bets while he waited, handing back what the few of them who’d won had earned and accepting several more cards. Many were frustrated with the outcome of their games, but hardly ever chose to turn this anger on him, which he found fascinating. To them, he supposed, he really was a non-entity, nothing more than a card and money dispenser. He reveled in the anonymity it gave him and was in such a good mood that he decided to walk over to where Shizuo was playing with his little team and watch a bit.

He cared little for sports in and of themselves. The game was always the same, as were, if one watched long enough, the penalties, but he thought maybe if he got to watch Shizu-chan all the time he wouldn’t mind so much. He wasn’t particularly good technically speaking, but there was a determination and force behind his movements that was obvious even from a relative layman like Izaya’s point of view. His power outweighed any lack of control he exhibited. Izaya tracked the way he moved across the court, the flex of his shoulders as he set up for a shot, the twist of his body as he went to pass, and found himself so sidetracked that he forgot why he was there in the first place.

It took Shizuo a few minutes to realize Izaya was sitting nearby watching, which was strange because he’d positioned himself purposefully to be seen, and when he finally did spot him, it took Izaya a few seconds to execute the teasing wave he’d had prepared since he walked up. It was reassuring, at least, to watch Shizuo stutter to a halt and lose track of what he’d been doing in the actual game for a moment, a scowl stretching across his face, causing one of the other players—Erika Karisawa, Izaya assumed—to crash into the side of him. The player standing off to the side of the court watching and shouting directions turned to follow Shizuo’s gaze and soon was eyeing him warily. _Kadota-kun_ , Izaya supposed. He’d seen the guy around some, always the straight man among the strange group who he associated with.

Izaya waved at him too. Kadota made no move to respond, only turned back to the game and urged Shizuo to keep moving. For the rest of the practice, he felt various pairs of eyes resting on him, but none more so than Shizuo’s which was more than enough to make it worth the time he’d spent sitting and watching. It ended soon after. As the team huddled together for some sort of pep talk, Izaya got to his feet and paced over toward them. He contemplated announcing himself and forcing Shizuo to introduce him around, but decided he didn’t want to do so quite yet. He’d let Shizuo handle whatever reaction they had the next day himself first. If he could find time to watch, he was sure it would be wholly amusing.

He wondered how Shizuo might describe him. Judging by the reaction of his kouhai, Vorona, Shizuo hadn’t given much explanation concerning the nature of their involvement. (Not that he been able to define it himself, but that was beside the point.) Izaya supposed Shizuo would never tell these people about his upcoming audition or abrupt interest in the theatre, which was probably a recipe for disaster considering Shizuo’s ability to not wear his feelings on his sleeve, but it wasn’t really Izaya’s place to tell him that. Dishonesty was a useful skill, but one needed to know when and how to employ it. Moreover, it wasn’t easily taught. Experience would prove ultimately more useful than anything he might have tried to advise Shizuo about.

The thought of Shizuo forcing himself to call Izaya his “friend”—because what else could you call someone who stayed after school to wait until after your own activities were over to meet up with you, really?—made him giddy and he was still giggling by the time he reached the spot where Shizuo and Vorona were standing.

“What’s so funny?” Shizuo demanded, already tense.

Izaya ignored him momentarily, turning toward the girl standing beside him. “Hello, Vorona, was it?” As if he didn’t know. “I enjoyed watching your practice. You’re a very skillful player.”

To the girl’s credit, she still seemed wary even after the compliment, but confusion clouded her expression some. She glanced to Shizuo who frowned, and then back to Izaya. “I must express gratitude for your words,” she said. “Although they are unexpected and unnecessary.”

Izaya cocked his head to the side slightly. “What’s the use of a compliment if it’s expected? Wouldn’t that lead solely to vanity?”

“Oi, that’s enough,” Shizuo grumbled, stepping between them slightly. “Leave her alone, Izaya.”

“Unnecessary, senpai,” Vorona piped up. “I am capable of continuing this dialogue myself.” Izaya raised his eyebrows, suddenly more interested in Vorona. “Perhaps you are in part correct, but I do not believe this applies when the two parties do not know each other well. Context in the situation is very important. For example, I do not know you well, so I have no expectation that you would perform such an action. If Shizuo-senpai did the same, I would be more accepting and more likely to be assured in its sincerity.”

“Oh?” Izaya said, extending the syllable long, smiling widely at the response. Shizu-chan certainly kept some interesting pets. “You’re well-spoken considering the comparative abilities of your senpai. But maybe that’s why the two of you came together so. Brains and brawn, ne?”

Shizuo growled at the insult—doing an excellent job of proving his point, Izaya thought—and Vorona frowned, looking eager to jump in and defend Shizuo, but Shizuo spoke again before she could. “I can deal with him, Vorona. You should go home. He’s not your problem.”

Vorona looked conflicted and Izaya was almost disappointed when she didn’t deliver the sickeningly sweet “any problem of yours is a problem of mine, senpai!” speech he’d been half-expecting. “Understood. Please inform if assistance becomes necessary in the future.” She bowed to Shizuo slightly before walking off stiffly. Shizuo waved as she retreated then turned back to Izaya.

He opened his mouth, his upper lip twisting up into a snarl and Izaya interrupted him. “Strange a beast like you would need such a cute little guard dog.”

Shizuo took a forceful step forward toward him, but Izaya forced himself not to flinch back. Their new proximity and the irritation rolling off of Shizuo in practically-visible waves made him shiver. “Why the hell are you such an asshole all the time?”

“I was only telling the truth,” Izaya said, making sure his lips stayed curled up meanwhile. “It’s not my fault some people are so scared of it.”

“You say whatever you need to to piss people off,” Shizuo insisted, still not backing off. “That’s not honesty, that’s being a prick.”

Izaya shrugged flippantly. “I’d rather be a prick than a monster.”

Shizuo’s eyes flashed dangerous and Izaya felt his pulse pick up in response. He wasn’t quite sure what he was doing at first, but Izaya spun then and started to run. As expected, Shizuo gave chase instinctively, tearing after him. Izaya laughed breathlessly, loud enough so Shizuo would be able to hear and focused on going faster. He leapt over some of the equipment that had been left out behind the school, hurdling it like a fence, pleased when Shizuo did the same rather than slowing in the least.

He pretended to head toward the back door of the school, but turned at the last second, dashing around the side, hearing Shizuo make a noise of frustration behind him. Izaya just pushed himself to run faster, relishing the burn in his muscles and the displaced air rushing past him, the adrenaline singing in his veins and the thrill of being chased. 

He’d never considered doing such a thing before, but he would have started running earlier if he’d known how much fun it would be.

Izaya lead them back into the school, slowed slightly by the effort of pushing the doors open. They tore down the hall, scaring a few lingering students who lunged to get out of their way. Izaya ignored them, focused entirely on Shizuo’s presence behind him. Part of him wished he could keep running forever. This interaction felt so simple, so appropriate. There was no intense calculation necessary, only that of his next move. It was incredibly liberating, even as much as Izaya enjoyed such things most of the time. But, he supposed, there were things to be done now. Maybe another day. So, he weaved through the halls back toward the school’s auditorium, running all the way inside before he swerved into one of the rows of chairs, leaving Shizuo to keep going for a few more steps before jerking himself to a halt.

When he spun on Izaya he looked intent to continue chasing after him even if he had to take out all the theatre chairs between them to do so bodily. Izaya felt a shaky smile spread across his face at the idea, but forced himself to take the moment to call out to Celty who was already advancing toward them in a panic from the stage. “Hello Celty! How are you today?”

That froze Shizuo immediately, seemed to snap him out of whatever headspace he’d been in before especially when he turned and saw her nervous approach, glancing between the two of them and typing frantically on her phone. Afterwards, he seemed disoriented, panting and shaking himself slightly. He shot Izaya final glare before, apparently, deciding Celty’s message was more deserving of his attention. Something twitched uncomfortably in Izaya’s chest, and he took the moment to slide closer to them in order to do whatever the visual equivalent of eavesdropping might be called.

[Are you two okay???] the message read. Celty’s brow was furrowed in worry and Izaya thought it was cute how she assumed the best of both of them.

Shizuo sighed heavily, shaking his head. “I’m fine.” He glanced at Izaya as if to say, “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with _him_ ” and he was sure to send back a blindingly bright smile in response. “Sorry about that. He was being an asshole, and pissed me off, and I—” Shizuo seemed to not have registered in the least what he’d done, as if it had been entirely instinctual which pleased Izaya greatly. Shizu-chan was no good for thinking anyway, so this skipped the tedious step in the middle where he tried. “Well, whatever. We’ll be going now.” The last statement was apparently meant as an order for him which he made no move to obey.

“Why would we do that when I already went to the trouble of asking Celty here to help us?” Izaya asked, pacing a few steps closer to be more immediately involved in the conversation.

[That was you?] Celty demanded, shoving her phone toward him.

“Of course,” Izaya said, as if she would have been able to find out who’d left the note on her desk somehow when he’d been careful to make sure it couldn’t be tracked back to him in order to insure her participation in this little get-together. He’d just asked one of the girls who’d begun following him around recently, acting as if they were good enough to escape his notice when he cared to look—they were almost right. He saw them, of course, but he couldn’t care less about their presence. Still, he thought they might prove useful occasionally as they had that day. They seemed to expect very little in return; his attention, even the smallest bit, alone was enough for them which Izaya found hilarious. _This is love then? This measly thing?_ The amount of agency humans took in their lives continued to astound him—to do him a small favor—he’d _really appreciate_ it—and set the note on Celty’s desk. The girl had blanched at first, shocked that the reality of her fantasy could coincide with consensus reality around her most likely, but had been painfully eager to help soon after she’d recovered, running off to do it right away. Perhaps “love” made a better currency than money in some respects, considering how quickly she’d done the job and with what vigor.

The note had been a simple request that Celty come help with rehearsals that afternoon and explained that the writer wanted to audition but was a bit embarrassed about it. He’d figured Celty, kind-hearted as she seemed to be, would come even without that small extra bit of pathos, but he figured it couldn’t hurt. And it was true, wasn’t it? At least for poor Shizuo who was looking baffled again.

“What? What’d you do?” he growled at Izaya accusatorily as if Celty had claimed he’d knowingly run over her grandmother that morning.

“What endless enthusiasm you have, Shizu-chan,” Izaya said, mostly to himself. “I simply asked her to rehearse with us this afternoon.”

Shizuo seemed to be debating whether or not he thought Izaya was telling the truth, but Celty’s response turned out to be far more interesting. Her mouth fell open slightly and she almost dropped her phone, fumbling it a second before beginning to write, going back several times to correct typos. [Wait. _You two_ are wanting to audition for the play ?!]

Izaya wasn’t sure whether or not Celty’s excessive punctuation was endearing or not, but he didn’t really care because Shizuo was turning a rather lovely shade of pink as he read the question. Apparently he hadn’t extrapolated on that little detail very well earlier. “Yep!” Izaya announced. “Shizu-chan and I are going to go up against Kujiragi-chan and Kuronuma-kun for the leading roles!” Shizuo shot him a betrayed sort of look. “What? Were you going to keep it from her? How? She’s the theatre program’s main pianist.”

Shizuo looked prepared to argue that—which would probably be amusing given Shizuo’s astonishing lack of debating abilities and the fact that there was no logical way around what he’d said—but Celty interrupted once more, touching his arm gently, turning in as if to close the conversation off with a [Really?] and an open, supportive expression that was private enough that if Izaya had been anyone else he probably would have taken the social cue and turned away. As it was, he simply let his eyes wander back up to Shizuo’s face, watching his reaction.

His mouth twisted on some internal conflict momentarily before he slowly began to nod. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Celty dropped her phone down and looked at Shizuo as if she’d never seen him before. It was hardly a judgmental look, just a calculating one, one that said she was rearranging the pieces that formed Shizuo in her head, and Izaya thought that maybe he’d underestimated her. He’d supposed her to be another nice girl, willing to listen, willing to put up with someone like Shinra because no one had ever told her she could say no, could walk away, but he was beginning to think that wasn’t all there was to it.

Shizuo twitched slightly under her scrutinizing look, his muscles tensing in his shoulders and hands—it was a testament to how comfortable he apparently was with her that he was able to stand it at all without snapping like he would if Izaya had done such a thing—, but before either of them could break the silence Celty began typing again, a genuine smile stretching across her face. [That’s so great! We can start right now!]

Izaya had to look away then. Her abundance of considerate honesty was making him vaguely nauseous.

Shizuo, at the very least, seemed relieved. Izaya supposed he’d expected his friends to come at him with fire and pitchforks or something of the like for this, considering how easily shaken he was. Izaya’d hardly done a thing—well, nothing involving Shizuo directly at first, anyway—and he’d acted as if he was about to raze the school to the ground. There was something deeper there, obviously, but that was something for a later time because Celty was marching off determinedly toward the stage already.

Izaya followed after, knocking into Shizuo’s arm as he went, earning himself a scowl as Shizuo brought up the rear of the group and easing the strange feeling in his chest enough that he began to skip along after Celty. Shizuo’s eyes were on him, and really that was all he needed.

*

Practice wasn’t as excruciating as Shizuo thought it might be. It was awkward, sure, and Izaya was annoying as hell. Of _course_ he already knew how to read music, and of _course_ his singing voice was just as clear and on pitch as Shizuo remembered. At least Celty was there as a sort of buffer between them. She didn’t really deter him from being a nuisance, but she did manage to dull Shizuo’s temper and reactions. She was also probably the only person who could teach him something like this, or try, without him feeling like she was being condescending. He thought maybe if she could replace all his teachers he wouldn’t be failing half his classes like he was currently.

It was slow work and was embarrassing as all hell and half of him couldn’t believe he was even doing it, but there was something a little freeing about singing. He didn’t have to move, didn’t have to rely on his body in the least. If he knew the lyrics, too, he didn’t even really have to think. He could close his eyes, forget where he was, even for a second. Maybe there was something to this theatre stuff after all.

And he had to admit, even begrudgingly, that Izaya had a point. Their voices did sound pretty good together. Celty had tried to hide her surprise at it and failed, but he didn’t blame her. Last time he’d been way too worked up to notice something so insignificant, but he'd been about as shocked as she was now that he had time to notice it. Being on stage freaked him out a little too, but Izaya almost looked like he was meant to be up there. Hell, he was definitely dramatic enough for it and he seemed to play a different character every other second so it wouldn't take too much effort for him to do such a thing. Then again, Shizuo had a feeling that Izaya could fit in anywhere if he put his mind to it.

Best of all, Celty hadn't asked him to explain himself, hadn't laughed at him, hadn't even had much of a reaction at all. He figured she'd want to talk later, but he'd deal with that when it came. For now he was relieved to know she at least still wanted to be around him and didn't think he was crazy. Well, that last part was debatable; he'd probably have had a better argument if he was trying out with anyone other than who he was.

Little did she know that it had been entirely Izaya’s idea in the first place. Which was still suspicious as hell but trying to get an answer out of him was like trying to unstick your tongue from a frozen pole in winter: painful, infuriating, and futile.

It didn’t really explain why he was fricking walking home with the guy again, not that they were probably even walking toward Izaya’s house considering what had happened last time. Shizuo didn’t get why Izaya wasting his time walking along with him for no reason. Maybe he was creating further opportunities to bug him. That sounded about right.

Izaya walked along beside him, humming the song they’d been singing annoyingly loud as they went causing several people to turn and look their way as they went. “Hey, shut up,” Shizuo finally chided him. “You’re annoying everyone.”

“But I’m practicing,” Izaya objected easily, as if he’d already had it planned out.

“It doesn’t count if you’re not singing.”

“Oh, you want me to sing instead? Do you want me to put on a private show for you?”

“ _No_. Just stop making noise.” Shizuo didn’t really like the way he’d phrased that, nor did he like the way he’d said it. He suddenly remembered what had happened the last time they’d walked home like this and grew wary, wondering if Izaya would try to do it again.

“Shizu-chan certainly has some good friends,” Izaya commented suddenly, looking off across the park they were passing. “Always ready to defend him, always ready to support him even if he suddenly decides to start doing something like singing show tunes. He must feel very lucky.”

Shizuo frowned, annoyed he’d picked out that particular doubt of his to pick on. The way he said it made it sound like some sure thing, but Shizuo knew better. _Most_ people could be alienated pretty quickly with one wrong move, he knew from experience. There was a reason the majority of people he’d hung around in middle school didn’t go near him anymore. “Don’t talk about shit you don’t know.”

“Don’t I?” Izaya raised his eyebrows, turning his face innocently puzzled. “Shizu-chan is pretty ungrateful.” His voice caught on the end of his statement, rough where his words were usually smooth, and Shizuo thought he heard some sort of emotion beyond his usual brand of clever mockery and purposefully irritating commentary that Izaya was failing to mask.

He looked the other boy over, took in the way he pressed his lips together, the tightness of his jaw. Now that he thought about it, Shizuo never really saw Izaya _with_ anyone else, except maybe Shinra and that didn’t seem to be by choice. Sure, he talked to people, but he never moved around the room before school started to join one of the groups and talk. Shizuo never saw him eating lunch at all, let alone sitting somewhere with a group of friends. Whenever he’d approached Shizuo he’d come alone, never from another group. Even walking into class in the mornings, he seemed to be alone.

_Is he…jealous?_ Shizuo had never thought about it before because he’d figured he’d be the last person Izaya, or anyone really, would be jealous of. He’d also thought that the other boy was simply so arrogant that no one was good enough for him, that he was the type that drifted from group to group as he wished, never lacking for company, or that his personality was so god-awful that people were staying away from him.

Well, maybe there was something to that. He wasn’t sure he could outright pity Izaya, but he _had_ only moved there recently. Shizuo was no social butterfly, but he knew how shitty it felt to be alone all the time. Apparently that got to even someone like Izaya who seemed above it all.

The idea of him possessing actual human emotions was slightly relieving to Shizuo in a way he couldn’t really explain. It had something to do with the fact that there really was so little to Izaya that he cared to show people that he almost didn’t seem real sometimes.

The time for him to respond had long since passed and Shizuo remarked on the fact that no one had ever made him think this much. It was exhausting. Izaya had started up talking again, but Shizuo hadn’t been listening. “—okay? Make sure you don’t forget.”

“What?”

Izaya sighed heavily. “I don’t like repeating myself, Shizu-chan.”

“That’s weird coming from someone who likes to hear themself talk so much.”

Izaya laughed the insult off. “If I don’t talk, no one will. Your conversational skills are atrocious.”

“Why follow me around then?” Shizuo demanded. “For someone so ‘busy’ you sure don’t care much about wasting time.”

The hesitation only lasted a second, but it was there. “It’s not my fault we walk home in the same direction. It’d be strange to be going the same way and walk separately, wouldn’t it? Shizu-chan shouldn’t read into things.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d give me straight answers to simple questions.” Shizuo thought he heard Izaya mutter the word “ _simple_ ” under his breath in a disdainful sort of way. “If you want to walk together you could just say so. You don’t have to make up excuses for it.”

Izaya glanced over at him, his face smoothing out into an expression that told Shizuo he’d been caught off guard by the comment. The space between them suddenly expanded slightly, Izaya stepping off further toward the right side of the sidewalk. Shizuo couldn’t see what he looked like when he responded because he turned his face away. “What do you mean? It’s not like _you_ want to walk together.”

Shizuo didn’t think before he spoke. “What if I did?”

Izaya laughed too-loud, turning so Shizuo could see something hysterical in his eyes. “I don’t have to be here just because you want me to be.”

Shizuo felt the conversation being twisted on him and he frowned, trying to keep it from happening. “No, but you are.”

“I’m what?”

“Here,” Shizuo suggested, sticking to what he knew.

Izaya pursed his lips, shrugging up slowly enough that it looked like stretch. “For now, anyway.”

It was weak, practically see-through, a desperate sort of attempt to gain himself back some leverage. Even Shizuo could see that, but he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t break down all of Izaya’s delusions at once, and that wasn’t really his job anyway. “Whatever. But you’d better show up to these rehearsal things.”

“Oh? I thought you weren’t listening.”

“I was before.”

“What if I don’t?” The challenge was back in his eyes and as a result his expression was back under his control. “Let me guess, you’ll hunt me down and kick my ass? That seems to be your solution to most problems.”

“Half right,” Shizuo said, his mouth quirking up into a half-smile at the thought. “I’ll catch you. Then I’ll bring you to Celty and _she_ can kick your ass.”

“What, are you scared you couldn’t do it yourself? You couldn’t even catch me today. Shizu-chan shouldn’t make promises he can’t keep.”

Shizuo frowned. “You had a head start. Why’d you even run away in the first place?”

Izaya grinned blindingly. “To see what you’d do.”

That figured. He’d been worried for a second he’d actually scared the bastard off somehow, but that’d been a worthless train of thought if he’d ever had one. He didn’t get it, but he had a feeling he couldn’t get rid of Izaya even if he really tried to frighten him. And there was something weirdly comforting about that. Shizuo shook his head, glancing up to see how far the sun had fallen in the sky. The tense atmosphere between them from before had dissipated entirely and Shizuo began to think about how if he stepped a couple inches farther to the right his arm would bump into Izaya’s. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re weird as hell?”

Izaya laughed and it was light enough that the sound seemed to rise up into the cooling air above them. “It’s been said.”

Izaya didn’t kiss him that night and Shizuo determinedly didn’t think about how that made him feel.

*

Realistically, they only had one more day to practice, but that didn’t matter too much, Izaya didn’t think. Shizuo was remarkably well-behaved during their practices, probably thanks, at least in part, to Celty who directed them through them. Once again, Izaya was allowed to observe him acting oddly normal, to bear witness to this incredibly ordinary boy going about his day, and once more he was unsure how to feel about it. It annoyed him vaguely and Izaya reasoned it was because he could sense the absence of the Shizuo who came out when Izaya managed to tweak his temper in just the right way. The breathtaking force that made up for the astounding lack of analytical thought that came from such moments was something Izaya began to miss after a certain amount of time. It was as though he had to continually prove to himself that that side of the other boy did, in fact, exist, even if it didn’t appear that way most of the time, so good was Shizuo at wearing his mask of normality.

There was something, he thought, about being the target of such intensity, the only thing in Shizuo’s sights, too, that was fantastically appealing in the same way leaning off the edge of a building to see how far out you could go was. There was also something indescribable about it. When Shizuo had been chasing him, everything else had faded away and he was able only to focus on what was in front of him and on Shizuo himself. He had experienced nothing else that could take him so entirely out of his own head, and though it made him somewhat anxious, the thrill of pushing past a known threshold was intoxicating. It was freeing to the point where he felt almost entirely detached from himself and the novelty of the experience had him seeking more and more.

It made him want to find more time to spend with Shizuo in a way he hadn’t exactly expected. It became a game to see how long he could hold the other’s attention, how many frustrated noises he could lure out of his throat in a short period of time, how many steps closer the other would take toward him in some attempt at intimidation, and Izaya loved to win. Shizuo was amusing to him in a way no one ever had been before, bouts of regular human behavior aside. That this plan allowed him to play more often only made it more appealing in his eyes, even if it didn’t go exactly the way he wanted it to. Not that he doubted it would, but it was always nice to have some certainties in one’s back pocket just in case.

Izaya thought it was particularly cute how Shizuo seemed terrified his little friends would suddenly throw him under the wheels at any moment if he said or did the wrong thing, which appeared to include this whole foray into the world of theatre. It seemed to Izaya that he had so many of them that there should be no reason for him to be concerned if a couple ran off. It was a pitiful thing to constantly worry about what others thought about you. That was why it was hardly worth the trouble to allow others to hang around or to get attached unless completely necessary, in Izaya’s opinion. Superficial bonds were often the most valuable. But, of course, Shizuo didn’t see that. No matter which side of himself Shizuo was acting out at the moment, he always put his whole heart into everything he did, and while Izaya was in no way frightened of the other boy in general, that, more than anything else, made him nervous in a way that he couldn’t quite explain to himself. Maybe it was that whatever came out of Shizuo’s mouth would be the truth without question, or at least the truth as the other saw it. That sort of certainty was something Izaya would never dare to dabble with.

Izaya had noticed his mind liked to turn itself into slowly narrowing circles around the subject of Shizuo whenever given the chance. He knew himself to be relatively fickle, especially with new ideas and people. He’d turn them over for a while, but inevitably he’d get bored, or begin to dislike them even. Never would he get _more_ invested, would they begin to occupy _more_ space in his thoughts. And yet Shizuo was expansive, something that never tired him to ponder. It was strange, but so was Shizuo. An anomaly. One that Izaya was opening his arms up to willingly. Whether that was a good idea or not had yet to be seen. His frustration with the topic came from his inability to explain _why_ Shizuo was different.

Then again, he wondered, if he could put his finger on it, if playing with Shizuo would then cease to be fun. He couldn’t be sure, could only keep searching in the meantime and attempting to not let the other boy take over his mind entirely.

_For someone with such a protozoan mind_ , he liked to think to himself, _you sure do take up a great deal of head space, Shizu-chan_.

The irony he gleaned from the thought was enough, usually, to satisfy him for at least a short time. In any case, the audition was coming up soon, and Izaya was excited to see what would happen, what Shizuo would do.

_Ah, but when aren’t you?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to joke that Shizuo's motivation in this fic is basically just that "do it for her/him" meme. His would be full of pictures of Celty ffff


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hhh I know I posted something unrelated yesterday so these will go up really close together but I want to stay on schedule with this...s o hopefully this isn't too annoying)
> 
> Today's chapter is a bit more manageable I think. We're finally hitting one of the more major plot points too, so that's pretty exciting ( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉ
> 
> If anyone's wondering, yes, the last bit of this chapter is my version of "Stick to the Status Quo." That's definitely one subplot/theme that didn't fit into my version of the story, so it got downsized, if not left out completely most of the time. It didn't work well with the characters I had, and I'd much rather rewrite and rework than force something in. I hope you agree. tbh, I don't think it'll be missed much... :c

Shizuo found himself pacing more than usual the day of the audition and Vorona, inevitably, noticed. In any other situation he would have been grateful, he thought, for her presence, but at the moment her constant attention wasn’t doing him any good, especially when he could practically sense how badly she wanted to ask what was wrong. The problem was, he didn’t really have an explanation to offer her. The only people who knew about this were Izaya and Celty who he’d asked not to mention it to anyone else. He felt lucky they’d been too busy the past couple days for her to find time to sit him down and interrogate him about the details of everything, particularly Izaya’s involvement.

The anxiety kept building in his chest and he was worried if he didn’t do something about it he would end punching the first person who looked at him wrong in the face. It was so bad that he ended up not going to homeroom or his first period. Instead he went outside and ran around the school again and again, barely noticing where he was or if he was getting tired—he didn’t think that he was—letting his body move on its own for a while, shutting down his brain meanwhile. He was glad for once that Vorona was a year younger than him and thus couldn’t notice his absence from class. Before he knew it, lunchtime rolled around and he realized he needed to go inside or he was going to be late.

He was sure he looked like shit but couldn’t find it in himself to care. The entirety of his being was resisting going toward the theatre, but he kept forcibly putting one foot in front of the other. Sure, he didn’t head straight for it, took the long way around and then a couple of wrong turns, but at least he was moving, right? That was what he was telling himself at least. It was all he could do to keep himself under control.

Shizuo could almost physically feel time ticking by as he paced around, headed nowhere, could feel it rushing by him as he did nothing. _At least doing nothing is better than being a laughingstock_. All Shizuo could think of were things going completely wrong in a hundred different ways and all that did was piss him off—at himself, at Izaya, at this whole situation—and that was exactly what he hadn’t wanted in the first place. He knew he was working himself up further, but he couldn’t _stop_.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he didn’t really know, all his random-ass running around eventually caused him to knock into Vorona who must have been looking for him considering they were near absolutely no normal walking paths.

“Senpai,” Vorona acknowledged as Shizuo forced himself to screech to a halt, his building energy collapsing out of him almost completely as he focused on his friend’s face. “Requesting to know where you have been all day. Your presence has been missed.”

Shizuo sighed, all the breath in his lungs leaving at once. He still had no good excuse made up for what he’d been doing. (It really didn’t help that he didn’t know himself.) He wasn’t like Izaya—he was no good at deception. With him, it was straight-forward or nothing. “Sorry,” he said lamely. “I…wasn’t feeling good this morning.”

Vorona’s eyebrows drew together in concern and Shizuo immediately felt guilty for keeping something like this from her. “If Shizuo-senpai does not feel well he should visit the school nurse or nearest health care facility to request aid. Do you require assistance in this task?”

“Ah, no, Vorona it’s—”

“Senpai’s health is incredibly important and must be monitored closely, particularly because the Wildcat’s first game takes place tomorrow afternoon. Senpai must be in good shape to play well.”

Shizuo felt another wave of guilt encompass him. He’d practically forgotten about that thanks to Izaya’s stupid little plan. It’d completely taken over his mind the past few days. “I’m fine, really. I just needed to clear my head.”

Vorona narrowed her eyes at him, obviously not believing him. She could read him too well to let it slide. “Does Senpai have a test or other stressful activity to complete this afternoon?”

_Bullseye_. “Kind of.”

Vorona nodded, pleased to have found the source of the problem. “To be expected that Senpai is anxious. But no need to worry. Events pass very quickly and are very rarely consequential. Ultimately, it will occur whether or not one takes the time and energy to think about it. Better to let it pass and move on quickly.” She nodded again as if in punctuation of her statement and Shizuo thought she probably had a point, per usual.

He couldn’t keep running around like a scared kid forever. If he faced it and got it over with he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. The whole thing would probably end in disaster, but so what? At least then Izaya would leave him alone— _About this at least_ , his mind pointed out—and he wouldn’t have to waste any more time on such a stupid thing.

Slowly, Shizuo nodded. “I understand,” he said, firming himself and clenching his fists by his sides. “You’re right, Vorona.”

Vorona lips quirked up. “I merely applied logic to the situation where Senpai could not as he is too emotionally invested in it.”

Shizuo decided not to think about that part. “I gotta go, but I’ll see you after school for practice for sure!” With that he took off running. He was late, but he thought, if he hurried, he could probably still make it. Vorona watched him go and wished him luck silently although it was still unclear to her what he could possibly be so nervous about.

*

Shizuo wasn’t in class that morning. Izaya noticed, of course. He also noticed how Kujiragi and Kuronuma walked up in front of the whole class, making sure everyone was watching, to present Yagiri with a gift. He didn’t deign to make the eye contact he felt them seeking when they turned around. Bribes were a cheap trick, and ones made so obvious even more so. Unfortunately, their teacher seemed pleased with the offering and homeroom went off without a hitch from there on, the heavy frown lines on his forehead and around his fat lips having dissipated for the time being.

Izaya didn’t see him the rest of the first half of the day either which didn’t exactly bode well, but Izaya supposed he shouldn’t have expected much else. If this didn’t work out there would be other ways he could play with Kujiragi and her cohort. This had simply seemed the most immediate and…personal, in more ways than one. Izaya felt mildly disappointed, but he remained calm throughout the morning. Whatever happened, it was interesting to see someone like Shizuo avoiding a problem so desperately.

When the lunch bell rang he made his way inconspicuously over to the theatre and took a seat in the back row where he wouldn’t be easily spotted. Other hopefuls filtered in one by one and Yagiri eventually began the auditions. There really was little hope for the school’s theatre program if this was what they had to pick from, Izaya decided. He had no real interest in theatre, would rather watch real life than waste his time on fiction, finding it far less captivating, far too predictable, riddled with clichéd tropes and overused character archetypes. Most auditions were painful to sit through at best.

At least Yagiri wasn’t a complete idiot considering he cut most of them short. The most painful to watch though was Kujiragi and Kuronuma’s. Celty walked over as she had with all the pairs to offer assistance on the piano and was immediately shoved to the side as Kuronuma whipped out an iPod instead and plugged it into a set of speakers. Their version of the song everyone had been singing was tacky, sped up into a quickstep. It lost the original meaning of the tune completely and Izaya could see from the set of Celty’s usually gentle mouth how much it bothered her. Izaya watched them nonetheless, observing how obviously they exuded confidence. Clearly they thought they had no competition, and ordinarily they would be right.

They weren’t bad in general. They could sing and dance, had been trained professionally where the others most likely hadn’t. Their act was flashy, cheap, but he hadn’t expected much less. Yagiri seemed delighted. Their very movements reeked of a smugness that was incredibly off-putting. In another case, Izaya thought, he might wait it out. People like them always met with their own downfall one way or another, and it was almost always interesting to watch. But not this time. This time he would be a bit more direct, one way or another.

Soon enough their audition came to a close and they took their bows. Those left in the room applauded with varying degrees of earnestness. There was still no sign of Shizuo. Izaya was slowly admitting to himself that this plan had been a failure, and was rearranging the pieces of Shizuo’s personality in his mind once more as Yagiri did a final call. He seemed to be trying to urge a couple of the lingering students sitting around him to go up with little luck. Celty was walking over to Kujiragi and Kuronuma, typing something for them to read, probably about the arrangement, but was swatted away, ignored as they walked off, not given a chance to “speak” in the least. Izaya was standing to leave when he heard panting behind him getting steadily closer. He turned and there, in spite of everything, breathing heavily and covered in sweat, his hair sticking up in so many directions, was Shizuo.

A smile spread across his face instinctively and he tried his best to twist it knowing. “Look who decided to show up. A little late, aren’t we?”

Shizuo halted a few feet away, bending over to catch his breath before shooting him a glare. “Shut up. You should be glad I’m here at all. This was your idea.”

“You _did_ agree to it though, if I recall correctly.” Izaya tried to press down the relief that washed over him at Shizuo’s presence. “What’d you do? Sprint all the way here?”

Shizuo blanched in such complete honesty that it made Izaya want to laugh and wonder what exactly he _had_ been doing all morning. But now wasn’t the time. If they still wanted to audition, they needed to go immediately. But it seemed as if they really were too late. People were exiting the theatre and Yagiri was cleaning up. Izaya watched it happen idly and turned slowly back to Shizuo, meeting his eyes and communicating as much of a challenge as he could. “Now or never, Shizu-chan.”

The other boy looked conflicted, flicking his eyes back and forth between the steadily emptying room and Izaya, the tension rolling off him practically tangible. Then something shifted in his eyes and that same fiery determination he’d had when chasing Izaya, the same conviction that could be felt in the strength of his grip when he’d defended Celty as the two of them walked home lit up in him again. “Wait!” he called to Yagiri who was the last person remaining in the auditorium.

The man turned in surprise, catching sight of the two of them and frowning. “Heiwajima? What do you want?”

“We’d like to audition as well,” Izaya said smoothly, stepping so they were side-by-side.

Yagiri glanced between the two of them, his brow furrowing. He seemed to consider it a moment, but soon enough his eyes narrowed. “Even if I didn’t think this was some sort of practical joke, the time for auditions has passed. Timeliness means something in the world of theatre, not that either of you would know considering your attendance records. Besides, I don’t need juvenile delinquents running around my stage.”

Izaya watched Shizuo’s face carefully as their teacher spoke. The other boy appeared frustrated and disappointed at first, his hands curling into fists at his sides, but his expression soon turned resigned. Izaya couldn’t help the small smile that curled his lips. _Ready to give up so easily, Shizu-chan?_

“Yagiri-sensei,” he piped up before the man could escape. “That hardly seems fair. Shouldn’t you offer an equal opportunity to all students who want to audition? Doing otherwise would be discriminatory, wouldn’t it? Sure, Shizuo-kun has done a lot of time in detention—” That earned him a nice glare which he caught out of the corner of his eye. “—but this could be his chance to turn it at all around.”

Yagiri frowned, conflicted, but ultimately shook his head. “I’m pleased to hear that you desire to reform yourselves, but I cannot tolerate tardiness. I’m sorry, but I would have turned anyone away, not just you two.” Izaya _definitely_ believed him. “Maybe the next musicale.” And with that he rushed off, leaving them alone in the theatre with Celty who was staring forlornly down at them from the stage, having reappeared from backstage when she heard them speaking.

Izaya started laughing. He couldn’t help himself. He kept going until Shizuo elbowed him to stop and then a little longer out of spite. “Shut up. What are you even laughing about? This was _your_ idea wasn’t it?”

Izaya waved a hand. “Ah, well, I figured something like this might happen.” He shrugged deeply, smiling widely. “Thanks for your help anyway, Shizu-chan.” The bell announcing that they had five minutes to get to class rang.

Shizuo frowned. “That’s it? It’s over?”

“Sorry I can’t bend time, Shizu-chan,” Izaya said, keeping his voice level. “I’ve been here the whole time waiting. If you’d shown up sooner maybe he would have let us go, but I sort of doubt it. He seemed to have written us off the second he saw us.”

Guilt flashed across Shizuo’s face and he looked down at his feet. He didn’t move to defend himself which told Izaya that his lateness was definitely purposeful and not a result of some other mishap. “It’s alright,” he assured him. “You didn’t want to do it anyway, right? This must be a relief to you.”

With that he walked over toward Celty, mounting the stairs to the stage. He wasn’t quite sure how to describe the expression she was directing at him, could only identify separate parts. There was anger there, probably for kicking her friend when he was down, and disappointment certainly. Some of it out of empathy, but also because now she would be doomed to work with Kujiragi and Kuronuma for another play which would put anyone in a bad mood.

Ah, well. That wasn’t really his problem. They’d get their comeuppance and if it affected their acting, maybe Celty would receive a welcome surprise in the near future. He himself was setting aside any reaction he personally might have had for later when he had more time to process it properly. No one liked when things didn’t work out their way, but that didn’t mean he had to show it off.

“What was the song they were all singing?” Izaya asked, startling Celty who must have been expecting him to say something else. “It wasn’t anything we were practicing.”

Celty shook her head and was too polite to not walk over and get him the sheet music herself. She handed it to him and began to type on her phone. [It’s…actually from the musical I wrote. They did a random drawing this morning so no one knew ahead of time. I’m pretty sure Yagiri-sensei wanted to shove it right back in, but there was nothing he could do about it at that point.]

Izaya nodded, looking it over. Celty wasn’t a bad composer, judging by the piece. Amateur, yes, but she could write a decent melody. He hummed the first few lines, noticing as Shizuo finally followed him up onto the stage from where he’d been frozen in place in the back of the room. He did, Izaya noted, look a little like a kicked puppy. It shouldn’t have bothered him, but, for some reason that day, it did. He frowned, feeling something in his chest ache slightly.

He wasn’t sure what made him say it, but, “Why don’t we do the audition anyway?” came out of his mouth a few seconds later, surprising all three of them.

Shizuo frowned, blinking in surprise. “There’s no one even here. What’s the point?”

Izaya felt his lazy expression become slightly strained. _I’m trying to make you feel better, idiot_. “Celty’s here. She can clap for you, if that’s what you want.”

Shizuo fixed him with a scrutinizing look, probably trying to figure out how exactly this was a trick and if he could get around it. Izaya forced himself to look away and back at the music. The whole auditorium was crowded with silence, the noise of the school not quite creeping its way in. “…Fine.”

Celty, at the very least, lit up with excitement and ran over to get him music as well. Shizuo took it and glanced it over. The part for the audition itself wasn’t very long. They’d be late for class, but Izaya doubted Shizuo would care all that much considering his noticeable absence that morning.

[Do you want me to play the music for you?] Celty asked, shoving her phone at them eagerly.

Izaya nodded. “It’ll help Shizu-chan get the pitch and melody, since he can’t read music very well.”

Shizuo scowled at him, clenching his fingers around the sheet music in his hand, making it bend. Izaya met his eyes and smiled as though he’d just delivered a compliment and was expecting praise. “If _you’re_ so good at it, why do you even need accompaniment? Why don’t you start singing right now?”

Izaya’s grin stretched wider and he did. Celty dashed to the piano and joined a few moments later, setting the tempo more firmly. It was much slower than how the other two had sang it, but it sounded much better. Izaya was pleased when Shizuo came in where he was supposed to. They sang out into the empty space before them and soon enough it was over. Celty played the final notes, trailing off into a ritardando. She pulled back and clapped as promised.

Shizuo flushed slightly. “It’s…a really nice song, Celty.”

She was getting up to answer him when a voice startled all three of them.

“Orihara-kun, Heiwajima-kun, you have a call-back.” Yagiri was lurking near the back off the auditorium, sounding begrudging but firm. “Celty-chan, work with them. You’ll have until next week to practice.” With that, he fled the scene.

Izaya pursed his lips, vaguely surprised. That was nothing compared to how Shizuo looked. His mouth was actually hanging open. He reached up to push it closed. “Don’t do that, Shizu-chan, you’ll catch flies.”

It looked like the game was on after all.

*

The next day Kujiragi and Kuronuma were walking down the hall to check the call-back list which had been posted earlier that day. Kujiragi wasn’t very concerned, but she thought it would be good practice to check the list anyway, to insure their spot. Aoba didn’t think that was really necessary seeing as they were the only ones who could sing at the audition yesterday, but he didn’t say anything. It was nice to see his name posted up for everyone to see anyway.

They reached the list, having weaved through the early morning crowd filing into the school, and Kujiragi scanned it. “As expected,” she said, nodding, then looked a little further down. “And not as expected.”

Aoba frowned in confusion and stepped up to the list, running his finger down it and frowning when he read what Kujiragi had. “That makes no sense. They’re not even friends. And they didn’t even audition.”

“Indeed,” Kujiragi agreed. “We’ll have to ask Yagiri-sensei about this. It seems our distraction for Orihara-kun did not work as planned.”

Aoba shrugged, scowling at the mention of the other boy’s name. “I heard he joined, but he probably doesn’t even show up to their meetings. He doesn’t seem to think he has to show up to class unless he wants to either, so what’s the difference?”

“This is somewhat troubling,” Kujiragi commented, still looking over the list. “Because we did not hear them audition we do not know anything about our competition which will make it difficult for us to properly prepare for the call-back.”

Aoba nodded. He didn’t think it was fair that they’d done some secret audition where no one but presumably Yagiri could hear them. “Why’d they even audition in the first place? They don’t care about theatre. Heiwajima plays basketball.”

Kujiragi narrowed her eyes. “I feel there may be more to this than it may first appear.”

“It wouldn’t exactly surprise me if Orihara has hidden intentions.”

Kujiragi began walking again and Aoba hurried to follow. She was thinking of what they were going to do next meanwhile. They needed to restructure their plan of action if they were going to have to seriously compete. As they walked a blond girl, one of the foreign exchange students, Aoba thought, almost ran into him.

He turned to watch her walk toward where they’d just been, wondering what her problem was, but soon decided he didn’t care. They had bigger things to worry about now, and he was eager to get a handle on them as soon as possible.

*

Izaya’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a welcome respite from Shinra’s nonstop whining in his ear. The other boy had sought him out at lunch and managed to catch him to lecture him about not coming to practices for AcDec. Or he was trying at least. Izaya wasn’t listening because he didn’t care and nothing Shinra said could make him feel guilty about skipping whenever he felt like it.

He pulled it out, disregarding the fact that Shinra was mid-sentence. It was from Celty, reminding him that they needed to start rehearsing as soon as possible. As if he was the one she should be bothering. He texted her back, reminding her that Shizuo had a game that day and as such they couldn’t come.

[You could come alone.] she shot back almost immediately. [You don’t need Shizuo to be able to sing.]

That was true, but he had no interest in practicing without the other boy. He wasn’t there to learn how to sing, after all. If he wanted to do that, he could do it himself, at home. As it was, he was perfectly happy with his voice and he could already read music. He ignored the text and set his phone aside, turning back to Shinra reluctantly.

Shinra was frowning at him. “I’m starting to get the feeling that you’re not even listening to me, Orihara-kun.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Izaya asked, leaning his cheek into his palm.

“Well, it seems like you’re not paying attention,” Shinra continued, oblivious as ever to his sarcasm. “This is really important. You need to start coming to practices, or I’ll have to tell my dad about your other activities.”

Izaya frowned. He hated that Shinra had that little piece of blackmail over him. He’d long since ceased to be of any use to Izaya concerning Shizuo, but Izaya didn’t want to let his so called “business” collapse so soon. It was pulling in good money with not much effort on his part and it was endlessly entertaining to him. “That doesn’t seem like something someone would do to their _friend_ , Shinra.”

Shinra smiled. “Why not? I’m only being honest.”

That wasn’t the issue, but Izaya didn’t get the chance to point that out before two new people joined them in their corner of the roof. It was Kujiragi and Kuronuma. Izaya froze his expression so it wouldn’t show his irritation at having them join an already annoying situation. Really, he was surprised they were confronting him so directly. He had to respect them for that, at least, as long as this wasn’t some attempted compromise or false congratulatory declaration.

“Kujiragi-chan! Kuronuma-kun!” Shinra called and Izaya was suddenly glad he was there. If nothing else he would be an obnoxious witness, willing to burst into the conversation whenever he felt like it. “What brings you up here?”

“We need to talk to Orihara-kun,” Kujiragi said without further prompting, fixing her eyes on him.

“Really?” Shinra piped up, ignoring what would normally be a request for privacy entirely, per usual. “What for?”

Kuronuma frowned irritably at Shinra who ignored him. “Theatre business,” Kujiragi responded. “I doubt you’d be interested, Kishitani-kun.”

Shinra pondered that. “No, probably not. Go ahead then,” he agreed and Izaya took over for Kuronuma, shooting him a look from the corner of his eye.

Izaya slowly got to his feet, pacing over to the pair, making sure to keep his expression smooth and neutral. “You called?”

He reveled in the look Kuronuma sent his way as Kujiragi began to speak, unphased as ever. “Orihara-kun, is it true that you auditioned with Heiwajima-kun yesterday afternoon during our lunch period for an opportunity to be part of the upcoming musical?”

“You saw the call-back list, didn’t you?” Izaya asked, drawing his eyebrows together. “Why are you asking me? That should tell you all you need to know.”

“Not necessarily,” Kujiragi went on. Izaya was simultaneously bothered and intrigued by her unchanging expression. He wasn’t sure if she had incredible control over herself or was simply unable to emote normally, but either way it was impressive. “We were there for the entirety of the audition process and yet did not hear you sing.”

“We were a last-minute audition,” Izaya explained, deciding not to make up some alternate story for the time being. It might throw them off his scent slightly. “Yagiri-sensei was happy to let us try. He was so kind, welcoming us in and listening to us. So complimentary too.” He smiled widely, aiming it at Kuronuma who seemed to be trying to light him on fire with his eyes. That wasn’t true obviously, but a little exaggeration never hurt anyone.

Kujiragi considered that and eventually nodded, even though Izaya wasn’t sure she believed him. He imagined even they knew what Yagiri was really like. “Very well. But if I could ask one more question, how is it you two came to audition in the first place? Neither of you have shown the slightest interest in theatre. In fact, it was my understanding that you two were already occupied after school.”

“Theatre is a big time commitment,” Kuronuma added. “We can’t have you two missing practices all the time for your other little clubs.”

Ah, so that was their angle. “My, so quick to judge! I’ve barely been here a couple of weeks, how can you claim to know my interests? It’s hardly as if you’re my best friends,” Izaya replied, feigning confusion and hurt. “I’d think you would be happy to have new members join. It could give your program a bit of the variety it’s so clearly lacking.” He noticed Kuronuma’s jaw tighten. “As for Heiwajima-kun, well, maybe he has other interests you don’t know about as well.” He caught Kujiragi’s eyes and held them, smiling once more, this one closed-lip. “There’s hardly a rule that says one has to limit themselves to a single activity. In fact, I believe that spreading oneself around can be quite beneficial. When you stick with one activity too long, you tend to stagnate there, and I imagine it’d be unbelievably boring. I hope you’re not trying to discourage a new student from trying something new. It’s not as if the theatre program is some gang that requires a drawn-out initiation process.”

Kujiragi’s gaze sharpened. “I suppose not. But you must admit it’s strange. If you had want to join the theatre program so badly, why not start practicing as soon as you arrived a few weeks ago?”

“I can’t have a few weeks to adjust?” Izaya cocked his head to the side. “Look, if you’re here to scare me off, it’s not going to work. Yagiri-sensei makes the ultimate decisions concerning the musical, and as he saw fit to grant us a call-back, it would be rude refuse. You’d be better off spending your time practicing yourselves. As I’ve heard it, you’re not exactly used to having competition.”

“You really think you stand a chance against us?” Kuronuma piped up abruptly. “Kujiragi has starred in every single school musical since primary school.”

Izaya smiled brightly at him. “Great! I love a challenge.”

Kuronuma looked like he might physically try to set him on fire himself, seeing how simple looks weren’t doing the trick. Unfortunately, before he could try, Kujiragi decided to show some restraint. “We simply wanted to clarify the validity of your audition and your intent to continue on to the call-backs, and we now have the answers we sought. Thank you for your time, Orihara-kun. We will see each other again soon, I’m sure.”

She set a hand on Kuronuma’s shoulder and pulled him away. Izaya waved at them. “Of course. Good luck with your rehearsals!”

Izaya glanced at his phone, noting the missed messages and that lunch period was almost over. He sighed. It wasn’t like he had anything to eat—his parents weren’t home often enough to even remember his birthday, let alone to make him lunch, and he had more important things to spend his time on—but he disliked having his time wasted on such frivolous little taunting rituals. He sank back down next to Shinra without thinking to gather his things.

“So you’re doing theatre now, huh, Orihara-kun?” Shinra said brightly. “Wow! A musical, Academic Decathlon, _and_ a gambling ring! You sure are a busy guy! Don’t forget what I said though, okay? Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

It took a moment, but Izaya found another smile somewhere within himself for the other boy. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of short, and kind of gay, and that's about all I have to say about it. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> We're rounding the bend here, getting pretty close to the end. I hope everyone's enjoying the story so far!

Shizuo was still—clinically, probably—in shock even during the game the next day. He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening, that they’d gotten a call-back and were _actually going to do something about it_. How could they not? Celty had been the most ecstatic he’d ever seen her after Yagiri had stepped out again, jumping around, hugging him, trying to hug Izaya—which, in hindsight, had been pretty hilarious—typing frantically about when they could practice. They only had until next week, she reminded them. Izaya had seemed pleased as well about what had happened and in a way, Shizuo had felt momentarily proud before the implications of it all had set in.

Did he want to actually go on with this? Now that it was much less far-fetched than it had been, was he ready to accept the possibility and responsibility of having a part in the school play? Was he really gonna be _that guy_? Him? He just couldn’t see himself up there doing it in front of everyone. If it was with Celty and Izaya he didn’t care that much, but he thought he’d probably be embarrassed in front of even Vorona. She was an important friend to him and he didn’t want to lose her over something stupid.

Luckily, being in shock somehow did wonders for his basketball skills. His brain went into autopilot as it had for most of the day and he did as well as he ever did when playing, maybe even better. Kadota noticed and put him in more than usual. He was grateful for the chance to burn off some of his nervous energy and to do something he actually felt comfortable with.

The other team was only made up of some other kids from the school who’d joined up like they had to form a ragtag, unofficial team. They were shorter and clearly didn’t have someone like Kadota who actually knew what he was doing to tell them what to do. Even with a few fumbles Shizuo’s team beat the other pretty easily. After the game he caught wind of Kadota talking to the other captain about starting some sort of actual tournament with other teams around the area.

Vorona approached the bench Shizuo had flopped down on after the game without him noticing and handed him a bottle of water. He blinked up at her, trying to draw himself back into the present before he took it. “Thanks.”

“It is no trouble,” Vorona said, sitting down next to him. “You played very well during this match. Please inform: has Senpai been practicing outside of school hours in order to improve his abilities?”

“Not really,” Shizuo admitted.

Vorona pondered that. “Nonetheless, Senpai was very ‘in the zone’ during the game.”

Shizuo chuckled. “Where’d you hear that?”

Vorona frowned and Shizuo felt a little bad. He didn’t mean to make fun of her speaking abilities when so many other people already did. He hadn’t been thinking, per usual. “Is the phrase incorrect in that context? The words are Karisawa-senpai’s, not my own.”

That made more sense. “No, it’s fine. It just didn’t sound like something you’d say.”

“Ah,” Vorona said, nodding as if she understood. “In that case, I will use my own words to express my true meaning. Senpai performed optimally today which is very impressive as he has been somewhat distracted lately.”

Shizuo took a long drink of the water before he responded, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. He needed to go home and take a shower. Maybe that would help him clear his head some, not that it had worked the night before. “I guess I have. Sorry about that. My mind’s been on…some other stuff.”

“Does this ‘other stuff’ you speak of concern the musical which you auditioned for with Izaya Orihara?” Vorona asked and Shizuo choked on the water he was drinking.

“W-what?” he demanded. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw the list on the bulletin board this morning as I walked to class,” Vorona explained as calmly as ever, not seeming at all confused about why Shizuo of all people would audition for a musical. “It had Senpai’s name on it, did it not? Confirm or deny.”

Shizuo avoided her eyes desperately, but couldn’t find it in himself to lie to her. “I…yeah, it does.”

“And the list is not mistaken?”

“No, it’s not.”

Vorona nodded. “Good, good. In that case, I wish to offer my further congratulations.”

Shizuo furrowed his brow, confused by her reaction. “What do you mean?”

“This is another important hobby of Senpai’s, yes? And friends are meant to be supportive of each other’s hobbies and interests, so I am attempting to do so,” Vorona explained. “Even if I do not understand it fully.”

“Oh,” Shizuo said, still surprised that Vorona was accepting it so easily, though he wasn’t sure now what he’d expected her to do. “It’s…probably only a short-term thing.”

“This has something to do with Izaya Orihara, yes?” she asked, eyeing him with more suspicion suddenly, which was probably fair considering the subject matter.

Shizuo felt his face get hotter. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Probably not short-term then,” Vorona said decisively, getting to her feet before Shizuo could protest. “I must return home now. I have perspired a great deal due to the physical exertion of the match, and I wish to improve upon my physical hygiene as soon as possible. Please excuse me.” She bowed to him slightly and went on her way.

When she left he felt relieved, but even more confused. “Did she kick you off the team?” a voice called and Shizuo’s head jerked up. In the end it was only Kadota, smiling wryly at him.

Shizuo sighed. “You saw it too?”

“It’s posted on the main bulletin board. I think most people have seen it,” he said, plopping down next to the other boy. The rest of the team had gone their separate ways already, heading home for the night. It made sense, seeing how low the sun had already sunk in the sky. At the very least, the cool night felt good on Shizuo’s hot skin.

“Fricking great,” Shizuo grumbled, putting his face in his hands. He should have thought of this beforehand.

“I was only kidding,” Kadota said appeasingly. “You know none of us care, right, Shizuo? What you do on your own time is your business. If Walker belly dances in his free time we’re not gonna gang up on him and beat him up for it. The same goes for you.” He paused. “Even if I’m not so sure that Orihara kid’s someone to be hanging around with. I hear he runs a gambling ring out of one of the empty science labs.”

Shizuo clenched his teeth together. “That wouldn’t surprise me.” He was trying to process Kadota’s words, trying to take comfort in them, but was finding himself unable. Even if they weren’t going to be vocal about didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel them looking at him differently now, and they would, even if they didn’t mean to.

Kadota looked like he wanted to ask something else, probably along the lines of “why him?” as if Shizuo had a good answer that made sense in his head, but he didn’t. “Good game today. You played well.”

Shizuo couldn’t stand sitting still any longer and lurched to his feet. “See you tomorrow,” he managed before he strode off, wanting to be alone. He didn’t want to sit there and hear Kadota struggle to compliment him as if that would make him feel better.

He was walking out the front gates of the school, having gathered his things before departing, when an even more familiar voice called, “How’d the game go?”

He huffed, forcing himself not to the look for the other boy. “Why should I tell you? Get out of here, I don’t want to deal with you tonight.”

Izaya slid up beside him nonetheless which caused Shizuo’s irritation to spike considerably. “Because I asked, of course, and it’s only polite. You’re in such a bad mood I’d say you must have lost.”

“We did not,” Shizuo argued before he realized what he was doing. Izaya’s face split into one of those shit-eating grins he hated so much. “Whatever. Go away. You don’t even live this way, do you?”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” Izaya shrugged, hopping up on a low wall running alongside the sidewalk they had been walking down. He balanced with ease, only putting his arms out for show. The golden light of the sinking sun caught on his hair and cast his expression into shadow. Shizuo drug his eyes away. “What does it matter? We have so much to talk about.”

Shizuo scoffed, watching Izaya teeter on a loose brick and feeling his muscles tense in anticipation, probably ready to move without any command from him and catch the asshole if he actually did fall. It seemed like something that would happen. But Izaya only kept walking, ignoring the bump. “Like what?”

“You did very well at the audition yesterday,” Izaya said, his voice riding the edge of sarcastic so Shizuo couldn’t tell how much he actually meant it. “In the end you did find a way to make the whole thing more dramatic. Well done! I’m very impressed.”

Shizuo’s arms did move then. They shoved Izaya right off the wall down onto the other side. He laughed as he fell and landed on his feet like a big cat. Shizuo shook his head. That figured. Izaya grinned at him. “Are you always so grateful to those who pay you compliments or am I just special?”

“You’re special alright.”

Izaya hopped back up onto the wall lithely, placing his hand on Shizuo’s head for balance until Shizuo swatted it away. “In any case, we made the call-back so we should start practicing. Celty’s eager and can do it tomorrow.”

Shizuo stopped where he was. He looked Izaya over, watched as the other boy observed him. He didn’t know what to feel anymore. “I don’t know if I want to do this anymore,” he confessed before he could stop himself.

“Oh?” Izaya stayed where he was, hovering over Shizuo, probably solely for the sake of giving himself added height and, by extension, added authority. “Getting stage fright? What about Celty’s play? Don’t you want to help your friend?”

Guilt spiked in his chest again and Shizuo was reminded what a horrible choice Izaya was for helping him sort out his feelings. If anything, he always made it worse, as if he had the ability to take everything Shizuo was feeling and shove it into a blender on high power. He sat down hard on the low wall. “I know, but I don’t think I can help her. That’s not me. The stage is Kujiragi and Kuronuma’s thing. I feel like it’d be better to leave it to them and not mess with it. Why do you want to do this anyway?” He wasn’t sure why he was being so honest all of a sudden, but it was between this or chasing the other boy again. He needed to let something out.

Izaya frowned, sinking down next to Shizuo. He was quiet for a few moments. There was an energy to him that Shizuo wasn’t quite sure how to interpret. “I can’t tell you who you are, Shizu-chan,” he finally replied, his voice softer than Shizuo expected, “but I can tell you how you appear.” In front of them all sorts of people were walking by, headed home or to dinner or to who-knew-where-else. Shizuo wondered what they saw, looking at the two of them, if they saw them at all. “You seem like someone who’s willing to help his friends no matter what, and you don’t seem like someone who’s willing to give up so easily.”

Shizuo turned to look at Izaya, surprised by the sincerity in his voice. It almost felt like they were back in detention that first time, as if that strange peace had returned between them. Izaya wasn’t meeting his eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t make you do this if you don’t want to, but I think it’d be a shame to stop now. I think you like to sing more than you might admit, and we _do_ sound good together. I think you could get even Celty to admit that.”

Shizuo looked down at his shoes. He didn’t understand why Izaya saying stuff like this was affecting him differently than when Vorona or Kadota did. Maybe because he was such a prick ordinarily? Shizuo wasn’t sure but something in his chest felt light and warm and it was making his skin prickle. He ignored it the best he could for the time being. He was grateful for the freedom he was being granted in a way he couldn’t really explain. If Izaya had tried to talk him into it he was pretty sure he would have stood firm no matter what, but now…

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll stay if we actually get the stupid roles,” Shizuo said before he could overthink it. “But I guess I could do the call-back. If nothing else it might help my grade in Yagiri’s class.”

Izaya blinked, having apparently been caught up in his own thoughts while Shizuo was silent. He finally met Shizuo’s eyes and smiled. Much like his voice it appeared to be sincere, even strangely proud. “You’ll be at rehearsal Monday then?”

Shizuo nodded slowly. “After practice, but yeah.”

“Don’t be too late,” Izaya chided. “I don’t have all day.”

“Apparently you do. You were still at school today. What were you even doing?”

“Nothing of interest,” he said too quickly.

“Tch. Stalker.”

Izaya gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. “I’m offended, Shizu-chan! Like I’d ever stalk someone as incredibly dull as you.”

“So you would if I was more exciting? That’s what you’re saying?”

Izaya beamed and there was nothing sweet about it. “That’s up for interpretation.”

Shizuo shook his head at Izaya, but was surprised to find that he thought the other’s statement had been weirdly endearing rather than creepy like it really was. Shizuo wondered how he’d crossed over from wanting to punch Izaya after everything he said to finding it somehow cute.

Shizuo cut his thoughts off right there. That was far enough. He frantically sought to change the subject for his own sake. “Kadota said you’re running a gambling ring somewhere in the school, you know.”

Izaya raised his eyebrows just high enough for it to be insulting. “And?”

“Well, do you?”

Izaya laughed. “Why should I tell you?” he asked, repeating Shizuo’s own response from earlier in their conversation which was annoying. “Is this more evidence for your ‘Izaya Orihara is definitely the cause of everything bad or moderately irritating in Shizuo Heiwajima’s world’ theory?”

“What kind of name is that?”

“You know,” Izaya continued on, ignoring him, “you shouldn’t believe every rumor you hear.”

“They have to come from somewhere. I’d be a lot less worried if I was hearing rumors about you saving kittens from a fire.”

Izaya rolled his eyes, leaning too far back on the low wall, looking like he was going to fall off which made Shizuo’s heart rate kick up against his will. Before he could do anything though, Izaya tilted back into safety. “Shizu-chan has ridiculously high expectations. You really expect me to be able to find an empty building, a lighter, and a box of kittens on such short notice?”

Shizuo shoved hard at him with his shoulder causing him to tilt back and forth like a bowling pin, knocking up against Shizuo’s arm in the process. “That’s not what I meant. Everyone I talk to about you makes the same face and it’s not a good one.”

“Aw, you talk to people about me? How sweet. Shizu-chan must think about me a _lot_.”

Shizuo flushed irritably because that was _not_ what he was supposed to take away from that. “I do _not_. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

Izaya shrugged lightly. “Maybe you should find better friends who aren’t so susceptible to silly rumors.”

Shizuo frowned, tensing at the suggestion and insult. “What, and you’re doing so much better? Do you even have any friends?”

Izaya stuttered. It wouldn’t have been obvious on anyone else, but his normal act was too smooth. It made any ripple at all painfully clear. Shizuo immediately wanted to take it back. “Well, you’ve got me there, Shizu-chan. In my experience _no one_ is completely impervious to rumors, so I’m still looking.”

It was better than Shizuo could have done, but it wasn’t very good. Shizuo could hear pretty clearly the edge of hurt in the other’s voice and it made his own chest ache in a way he hadn’t expected. “…sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know how you meant it, Shizuo,” Izaya said quietly, smiling at him again. “You’re not wrong. Don’t take it back.”

Shizuo huffed. He hated being met with a wall everywhere he turned. Izaya was like some impervious fortress that he couldn’t get into no matter how hard he tried and it pissed him off. “I was,” he insisted. “You’ve got me. And I know I’m not much, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

Izaya’s eyes widened momentarily and Shizuo was immediately struck by the clear look of surprise on his face. He really hadn’t been expecting Shizuo to say that, clearly. It was the first time he thought he’d ever seen Izaya look entirely incredulous. He bounced back quickly though. “You’re right,” Izaya said, softly enough that Shizuo thought he might have actually taken it to heart. Then he kept talking. “That isn't much.”

Shizuo thought he’d found that urge to punch Izaya that he’d been missing earlier. “You’re an asshole. You know that, right? That’s _not_ how you make friends.”

Izaya cackled. “I’d be offended if you thought anything else. But, please, teach me your ways, Shizuo-sensei, by all means.”

Shizuo stood and moved to stand in front of Izaya and flicking him in the forehead hard enough to make sure it hurt. Izaya hissed and pressed his hand against the pain. “Rule #1: Know when to shut up.” He started walking once more, and soon heard footsteps following after him. “Rule #2: Don’t insult people who’re trying to be nice to you.”

“That was you being nice?” Izaya asked, appearing beside him once more. Shizuo glared at him and he started shuffling around in his bag. “Oh, sorry Shizuo-sensei, next time I’ll raise my hand. One second, before you continue this enthralling lesson, I need to get my notebook out so I can take notes.”

Izaya already started running before Shizuo moved to start chasing after him. People flew by them, inconsequential even as they protested the two boys’ path and speed. The sky blurred into a slow progression toward darkness and all that Shizuo could see was Izaya’s back. The other boy was impressively fast and far too sly with his movements. Every time he thought he was getting close, Izaya sped up and would be far out of his reach once more. All he could feel was the air in his lungs and on his skin, and all he focused on was moving his legs and trying to catch up.

When Izaya skidded to an abrupt stop Shizuo kept running right past him. He forced himself to slow a few seconds later, breathing heavily and reversed to where Izaya was leaning up against a stone wall next to an ordinary row of houses. Shizuo realized he didn’t even know where he was. He stopped thinking about it when Izaya beamed widely at him. His hair was blown back from running and his chest was still heaving as he caught his breath.

Shizuo felt that increasingly familiar, overwhelming urge wash over him once more and he stepped forward. Izaya didn’t move to slip away then, only tilted his head up. Shizuo met him halfway, leaning in and kissing him hard. It was different from the first, less rushed and experimental, completely different from the second which had been more of a peck and entirely a surprise on Shizuo’s part. This one felt purposeful on both sides and it made Shizuo brave. He reached down to set his hands on Izaya’s waist carefully and Izaya didn’t move away. Instead, he reached up and set his hands on Shizuo’s shoulders to hold himself in place, stretching up to make the action easier for them both.

Izaya’s mouth was warm and soft, and Shizuo could feel him breathing under his hands. He probably would have kept kissing him and kissing him like that for who knew how long, but the lights of the house they were closest to suddenly came on, blinding them both and causing Shizuo to pull back. Izaya tried to follow after him, but Shizuo stayed away.

He glanced up at the lights when he noticed them. “It’s fine. It’s probably just my sisters.”

Shizuo blanched. “Is this _your_ house?”

“Yes,” Izaya said as if that made everything better or as if he ever gave such a straight answer to any question.

Shizuo’s eyes widened. “Why’d you come back here? What if your parents saw us?”

Izaya waved a hand. “They’re not home. Even if they were, I would bet you good money they would drive right by us and not even blink if they saw. You could be undressing me on our front lawn and they wouldn’t notice.”

Shizuo had a minor brain malfunction at those words. He hadn’t quite worked through the whole kissing thing or what it meant or how he was going to deal with it, let alone thought farther than that, but now there was imagery in his mind like it had been ready the whole time, waiting for Shizuo’s brain to finally come around to it and he couldn’t deal with that while he was looking right at Izaya himself. “Don’t say shit like that.”

Izaya’s persistent condescending expression was not helping anything. “Why not?” His smile returned. “Is Shizu-chan _embarrassed_?”

“Shut up,” Shizuo demanded because it was familiar and better than nothing. He wished he didn’t feel so scandalized by it, but he wasn’t used to this and he didn’t like feeling so out of control in such ordinary situations. “I should go.”

Izaya frowned slightly. “Why? Because of my sisters? They’re still in primary school and they’d make things up in their head anyway even if they didn’t see anything.”

Shizuo sighed. Night had fallen, and he really needed to be heading home. He could claim the game had run long, but not _that_ long. “It’s getting late.”

Izaya leaned back up against the wall behind him, letting all of his weight go at once. Shizuo let his eyes wander up the curve of his body. “If you were so worried about the time, why’d you follow me back here?”

_Because I wasn’t thinking_ , Shizuo thought, but figured he’d only get a snide comment in response if he actually admitted such a thing, although it happened often when he was around Izaya. He was less restrained in general, probably at first because Shizuo hadn’t thought it was worth trying to hold back, but now more because Shizuo knew he could take it. It was sort of freeing, knowing he didn’t have to worry about hurting him since it seemed like he couldn’t, even if he tried. But here, in such close quarters, it was different. This was new and overwhelming and as much as Shizuo was beginning to realize he wanted this—and he really did—his normal instinct to get away from such a situation as quickly as possible was overpowering.

He felt Izaya’s eyes on him while he thought. The other boy seemed intent on not moving them unless he was forced to. Shizuo didn’t look because he knew if he did he’d forget all the reasons he’d thought up for why he should turn around and start off for home. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I need to get back. My family will wonder where I am.”

Izaya’s smile went tighter even as the rest of his expression smoothed out. He laughed lightly. “I see. Well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we?”

Shizuo noticed the edge of resentment in his voice, but decided not to comment on it, considering what had happened last time he’d tried such a thing earlier that night. Instead he pulled him back closer by the edges of his jacket and pressed his mouth hard against Izaya’s in an effort to erase the ugly shape that had formed there. Izaya struggled against his hold briefly but soon was pushing back, and it was more teeth and force than anything else, a shove, an impact more than a kiss, but Shizuo thought he got his point across.

He thought the light flush gracing the other boy’s cheeks was something he could get used to. “Don’t be a prick,” he grumbled at him before he forgot.

“If that’s what it gets me, why would I stop?” Izaya asked, smirking again. “You need to rethink your barter system.”

Frustration spiked hot in Shizuo’s chest, but he saw by then what the other was doing and that if he didn’t leave right then he’d be there all night. “What, so you liked it then?”

Izaya laughed loudly and honestly, and Shizuo felt something flutter in his chest. “Shut up, Shizu-chan.”

In spite of himself, it was almost ten minutes more before Shizuo managed to actually head home. His mother eyed him suspiciously when he walked in but didn’t ask about anything other than school and the game, for which he was grateful.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, does everyone remember that Suspension of Disbelief dial I was talking about earlier? Well, you're probably going to want to reach for that one more time here in these last few chapters.
> 
> A couple of related warnings as we go in: For this last week of time in the story, I copied the pacing of the movie almost exactly, meaning it will feel a bit rushed. Before this I didn't pay much attention to the timeline HSM set, putting in full weeks and so on where I felt like it, meaning that this fic takes place over about a month whereas the movie takes place over about two weeks. Still, I stayed loyal here, and I'm sure it shows, so be prepared for that. :V
> 
> Next, if you know anything about HSM, you know that in every movie there has to be some manufactured couple drama, and welp, that was not avoided here. I tried to make it as believable as I could, but I apologize if it still seems forced. It doesn't last very long if that makes it better lmao...
> 
> All that being said, thank you to everyone who's still keeping up with this! I'm really glad some people are enjoying it. :)

Shizuo dreamed of Izaya again that night, but it was different from the other dreams, warmer and darker, and when Kasuka stumbled into his room the next morning telling him there was someone at the door for him he was still blushing from it. He tried to shake the images from his mind while he stomped downstairs, figuring no one would be stupid enough to bother him so early on the weekend except the subject of the dream himself.

He opened the door and immediately started in with, “What the hell do you want, Izaya?” before realizing it wasn’t the other boy at all. Instead Kadota stood before him, looking bemused and startled. Shizuo didn’t really like the way he felt vaguely disappointed, growing irritably at himself for it.

“Uh, hey, Shizuo,” he said. “I can…come back later if you were expecting someone.”

Obviously he wasn’t, considering he hadn’t bothered to throw on anything all that appropriate for daytime—which was stupid in hindsight. If it really had been Izaya he wouldn’t have escaped ridicule for his state of dress—but his comment had probably been unintentionally leading. “I’m not,” Shizuo said quickly. “What do you want?”

“Sorry to bug you so early, but I wanted to let you know as soon as I could in case you wanted to practice over the weekend,” Kadota said, moving past the previous conversation point immediately. One of Shizuo’s favorite things about Kadota was his proclivity for staying out of other people’s business and avoiding sensitive conversation topics. “There’s gonna be a tournament of local teams coming up here in these next couple weeks, but we have to play a couple qualifying games to get in: three next week. It’ll be like a mini-bracket. There was more interest in it than we expected, so we have to knock quite a few teams out first.”

“Three?” Shizuo asked, rubbing at his eyes.

Kadota nodded. “Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

Shizuo thought that through. It took his still-half-asleep mind a few minutes to make the connection, but it eventually did. Call-backs were next week too. That was annoying, but they were on Thursday, so there wouldn’t be a conflict. Still, working in rehearsals with all those games was going to be a pain in the ass. He sighed. “Got it. You could have texted me, you know.”

“I know,” Kadota said evenly. “But you don’t always pay attention to your phone, so I thought I’d tell you in person.” He looked Shizuo over in a way that went past simply observing his overly casual clothing. “Listen, Shizuo. Can I…count on you to be there this next week?”

Shizuo frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kadota held his hands up appeasingly. “I’m not accusing you of anything. This is an intramural sort of thing, so it’s no big deal, but…you haven’t exactly been laser-focused lately. Your mind’s kind of been somewhere else. You played really well last game, and if you keep on like that I can keep you in, but if not I really need to work on pushing some of the other guys harder to fill in. Just be honest with me. You can stay on the team either way, but I need to know so I know how best to coach this week.”

Shizuo’s face flushed because he knew Kadota was right. His head hadn’t been in it lately and normally he wouldn’t care, but these people were his friends. He couldn’t let them down for something so random and weird as this singing thing. He still wanted to do it for Celty, but basketball came first. “I got it,” he said. “Sorry. There’s been a lot of stuff going on recently and I’m trying to deal with all of it.”

Kadota got that look on his face that Shizuo had come to recognize as the “This has something to do with that Orihara kid, doesn’t it?” look and he pushed on quickly, not eager to have that conversation again, even if the answer was, “Of course it does. What the hell doesn’t recently?”. “I’ll be there and I’ll focus up this week. I swear.”

A relieved smile stretched across Kadota’s face and he nodded. “Thanks. You’re a really valuable member of the team, Shizuo, and we really appreciate you joining up.”

Shizuo reached up to rub at the back of his neck. “You should thank Vorona. She dragged me into it in the first place.”

Kadota laughed. “You’re right. I will. And hey, watch your phone. We might try to practice some this weekend.”

“Understood,” Shizuo nodded. “See you then.”

Kadota nodded and waved at him. “Later, Shizuo.”

Shizuo closed the door and sighed. It was going to be a long week.

*

[You seem tired.] Celty commented on Monday. They were eating lunch together again, sitting quietly and watching other kids walk around outside. It was nice day, if a little warm.

“Kind of,” Shizuo said. They’d practiced several times throughout the weekend and had a game that day, so Shizuo was a little worn out, especially since he’d been trying harder than usual in order to keep his promise to Kadota. “Basketball has been working me hard recently.”

Celty nodded and picked at the rice in her lunch with her chopsticks and her free hand. Shizuo continued to be impressed with her texting abilities. [That’s too bad, especially with the call-backs this week.] She paused, typing her second statement slower, seeming to contemplate it more. [You…are still thinking of doing the call-back, aren’t you?]'

Shizuo nodded. “Yeah, last time I checked.”

[Can you rehearse today?]

“Well, I have a game after school,” Shizuo said regretfully.

[I can stay.] Celty fired backed quickly, seeming eager once more. [It’s no trouble. I usually stay late anyway helping other people. And we can practice during lunch too if you want time without Orihara-kun. I know it’s a pair’s audition, but he’s not always that helpful to the process. He’s like that kid who knows all the answers ahead of time and acts like it’s no big deal.] She huffed, then paused. Shizuo chuckled, amused by her rant. […sorry. I can practice any time, just tell me when, is what I meant. And I didn’t mean to complain about Orihara-kun.]

“It’s no big deal,” Shizuo said and her expression relaxed some. “I get it. He’s a pain.”

Celty laughed soundlessly, moving to cover her mouth nonetheless. [But he’s the reason you’re doing this, isn’t he? You never explained why you tried out in the first place.] After a few moments of silence Celty moved to quickly type once more. [You don’t have to if you don’t want to! Sorry. I was curious, but I didn’t mean to pry.]

“Thanks,” Shizuo said, relieved. He didn’t know how to explain himself anymore. It hardly made sense to him, and the one part he did understand—that he was doing this mostly to help her out—seemed like a douchey thing to say to that same person’s face. He wasn’t looking for unnecessary praise. “It was his idea, if that’s what you were wondering.”

[That makes sense.] Celty nodded. [He’s very…eccentric.]

 _That’s one word for it_ , Shizuo thought, but didn’t respond since his mouth was currently full of his lunch.

[You two seem closer lately.] Celty commented a few moments later. [At first I thought you hated each other, but now I see you together more.]

Shizuo swallowed hard so he wouldn’t choke on his food. He stared down at the remainder of his lunch, unsure how to answer. He supposed he needed to own up to it sometime, but he didn’t really feel like talking about it. Besides, Izaya still got on his nerves. That hadn’t changed. He’d simply…gotten used to it, that was all. “I guess,” he finally answered gruffly. “He still pisses me off. We’re spending more time together because of the auditions.”

Celty eyed him for a moment but seemed to take the hint, simply nodding in response, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence. Shizuo was thankful she could read him so easily. It took a few minutes before he realized he’d never even said thank you to Celty for all her help.

“Hey, Celty,” he began. “Thanks for, you know, helping us with all this. I know neither of us are the easiest to teach.”

Celty’s mouth spread into a grin and Shizuo thought it was a refreshing change that all of hers were genuine. [It’s no trouble. Really, I’m happy to help. Even if I don’t know why you decided to audition, I’m glad you did. I think you two really have a shot if you work at it.]

Shizuo was glad to hear it, or glad to hear the first part at least. He didn’t want to be making Celty’s life miserable unintentionally with all of this.

[I’ll see you after your game.] she typed when the lunch bell rang, standing up to head to class. [Good luck!]

“Thanks,” Shizuo said, almost looking forward to it.

*

Shinra was whining at him again. Izaya didn’t like that this was becoming a regular occurrence. He’d been exiting the lab after another round of collections during lunch when he’d been ambushed by bespectacled boy who’d dragged him off to lecture him.

He was saying something about how they had a competition that Friday for the Academic Decathlon and how he needed to be prepared.

“Shouldn’t you have informed club members earlier than this?” Izaya drawled, leaning back against the wall behind him. “What if I’d made plans already?”

“I did tell you!” Shinra insisted shrilly, making Izaya’s ears ache. “The first day you came in! And you’d get more reminders if you’d come to more meetings. You really should come today or I’ll have to talk with my dad.”

Izaya fought back the urge to roll his eyes. That threat grew emptier every time Shinra used it. “I’ll think about it.”

“And the competition?” Shinra demanded, getting too close to him for his taste.

Izaya pushed him back by his shoulders. “Let’s make a deal, Shinra.” Shinra looked at him expectantly so he continued. “I’ll come to this competition of yours this week and if we win, you’ll drop that little threat about my other extracurricular activities entirely.”

Shinra blinked at him a few times, considering. Finally he nodded and stuck out his hand. “Deal! But you have to come to all the meetings this week too. You can’t skip them all and expect to show up prepared.”

Izaya took his hand and shook it, deciding not to comment on the fact that every meeting he went to made him feel like he was _losing_ brain cells given the average intelligence of the other members. He didn’t like the idea of sitting through them each day that week, but he’d probably have no choice. If Shizuo had his silly basketball practices after school every day, which he probably did, he’d have to hang around anyway. Better to kill two birds with one stone. “Very well. I’ll see you later then, Shinra.”

“You’d better!” Shinra said brightly before taking off down the hall.

Izaya sighed, irritated at having become involved with the other boy accidentally. If this was what having friends was like, he wasn’t so sure he was motivated to find any more.

Besides, Shizuo could claim to be such a thing himself, but Izaya knew better. Shizuo was hardly his friend.— _Do you kiss all of your friends like that Shizu-chan? Practice must be quite a sight if so._ —Maybe Izaya didn’t have a word for it, but he knew well enough that that wasn’t the right one. Well, he might have known what it was, but he hadn’t quite reconciled it just yet. Izaya Orihara did not get attached, yet there he was. It was spinning out of his control thanks to Shizuo’s involvement and he didn’t really know what to do about it except let it happen and observe the result. Sometimes that was more fun than focusing on attempting to plot out the exact outcome anyway.

*

The week started out smoothly for the most part. Shizuo was tired, but he kept up with everything the best he could. They won their game Monday easily enough and afterwards he ran to the auditorium to practice with Celty and Izaya. It had somehow become an unspoken rule that he and Izaya would walk home together afterwards. He didn’t really mind it, for the most part. He hadn’t quite figured out how to act around the other boy when other people were around, even if it was only Celty. He couldn’t help feeling like he was being watched and ended up staying away from him. Izaya sometimes sent him knowing looks, but behaved himself fairly well until they were alone again. Shizuo was realizing that wanting to kiss and be close to Izaya was becoming a constant urge rather than a whim. Where before he’d wanted to find him out of suspicion, now it was more out of anxiety if they stayed apart for too long. Shizuo didn’t trust Izaya not to do something stupid while he wasn’t around.

Tuesday went much the same, but they had practice instead of a game. He could feel Vorona and Kadota both watching him which wasn’t exactly comfortable. He was strangely relieved to run off after practice back to the cool privacy of the auditorium once more. Shizuo felt himself falling into a pattern which, even if it was kind of exhausting, was nice if only because he knew what to expect from each day. Unfortunately, it didn’t last for long.

As he was walking back into the school from the court, he heard a voice call his name from somewhere nearby. He paused, glancing around. He hoped it wasn’t one of his teachers hanging around to reprimand him for not doing his work, but, luckily, it didn’t seem to be since they didn’t walk out to greet him soon after. He figured if it was Izaya he would have made his entrance already as well. He was about to continue walking when he heard it again.

“Heiwajima-kun. Over here.”

This time he caught where the voice was coming from and spun toward it. There, for some reason, stood Kujiragi. He looked around but it seemed like she was alone, which was weird. He’d never seen her without Kuronuma attached to her hip. He’d started to believe that they actually physically couldn’t be apart from each other. He frowned, wondering what she could want from him. She’d been leaving him alone a little lately, maybe because he’d been so busy as of late. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t say it hadn’t been something of a relief.

“Oh, hey, Kujiragi,” he said. He really had no desire to stand around talking to her. He had stuff to do and small talk usually irritated him.

“Can I speak with you a moment?” she asked, pushing open a door to a classroom that had been left open. “It’s about the musical.”

Shizuo paused momentarily before following her into the room. He didn’t know what she wanted, but at least if he talked to her now, maybe she’d leave him alone. Plus she _was_ the drama club president. Like he’d said to Izaya earlier, they were barging in on her operation and Shizuo figured if someone did that with the basketball team he wouldn’t like it, so he’d pay her the same respect back.

All the chairs were up on the desks already and late afternoon light flooded in through the cracks left in the blinds pulled down over the windows. Kujiragi stood against one of them so Shizuo leaned back against the teacher’s desk, keeping some distance between them.

“I was surprised to see that you had auditioned, Heiwajima-kun,” Kujiragi began as soon as the door shut behind them. “I had no idea you had any interest in theatre.”

“Oh,” Shizuo said. He hadn’t really known that either. “Well, it was sort of a sudden thing.”

Kujiragi nodded. “I think it’s very brave of you.”

Shizuo paused and frowned. “What?”

Kujiragi took the time to pace closer to him then before she spoke. “You don’t see someone like you out on the stage very often. I think most people are too frightened of what people might say about them.”

Shizuo tried to take a step back but ran right into the desk. He didn’t like how close her words were getting to his own thoughts recently.

“There’s a good chance you and Orihara-kun will get the leading roles, I believe, if you audition again,” she said calculatingly, glancing off out the window to where most of the remaining students were heading home for the day. “Kuronuma-kun and I will be understudies, of course, and we’d fill in if necessary, but I thought before the call-backs I’d ask if you were sure you wanted to do this. There’s no point in expending unnecessary effort if you’re simply going to drop the role at the last second. Ultimately it will be you who is out on that stage, putting your whole self out there for everyone to see. I thought I would remind you of that.”

Shizuo didn’t like the way this was going and he didn’t like how close she was getting. Still, she had a point, and maybe, he thought, she was offering him a counterargument he couldn’t get from anyone else because Izaya wasn’t willing to offer it and no one else knew enough to do it. It would be nice to do this for Celty, but it _would_ be him out there and no one else, and in spite of anything Izaya might say, he still wasn’t sure that was any place for him to be.

It was out of his comfort zone, and pushing himself had never gone all that well before. Overthinking really wasn’t his thing either. In the end, he knew he needed to go with his gut. He snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed how close Kujiragi was to him. He jerked back again and the whole desk scooted, but the girl didn’t stop her pursuit.

“Aoba and I have worked hard in the theatre program for years, Heiwajima-kun,” Kujiragi explained carefully. “And we’d be happy to take your place if you decide you decide to step down. Consider this an offer. You should do what you think is in your best interest. I understand Orihara-kun is a strong influence on you, but don’t let him make your decisions for you.” She reached out and set her hand on his chest which shocked him so much he forgot to move momentarily. She was so close he could see her chest moving as she breathed. “I don’t think this is you, Heiwajima-kun, and I believe you know that as well.”

*

“Has he always had this propensity for being fashionably late?” Izaya asked, laying over the top of the piano bench which he knew was irritating Celty which was why he wasn’t moving even though it wasn’t a very comfortable place to lay.

Celty shook her head and typed out a message to shove over his face. [I haven’t known him much longer than you. Maybe his practice ran late today.]

Izaya sighed in a long-suffering way and sat up slowly, stretching his arms above his head. He checked the time on his phone. “I suppose I could go look for him. I’m sure he’d be pleased to see me.” He didn’t wait for Celty to respond, and instead went skipping out toward the basketball court which he found surprisingly empty. Only Kadota was still around, cleaning up after practice. Izaya wondered if he’d just missed Shizuo somehow, but didn’t see how that was possible. There would be no reason for him to take some strange roundabout route through the school to get to the auditorium. There was no one else left around to see him go in, if that was what he was worried about.

“Kadota-san!” Izaya called to catch the other boy’s attention, waving at him and earning himself a wary look.

“Oh, hey, Orihara,” he said, turning toward him slowly. “What’s up?”

“Well, I was looking out here for Shizu-chan, but it seems like he’s not around.”

“Ah, I got it,” Kadota said as if something had clicked in his mind. “He went in a little while ago, but I don’t know where he is now. Sorry about that.”

Izaya decided he liked Kadota a bit more if only for how straight-forward he was even when it was obvious he wasn’t entirely comfortable around him. He pursed his lips, looking back at the school. “It’s no trouble,” he said. “Thanks for your help.” He went to go back to search inside—he didn’t think it would be possible for Shizu-chan to _actually_ get lost somehow, but less believable things had happened lately. Maybe he needed another rousing pep talk, though Izaya thought it might be difficult to recreate the previous one entirely. Some of it had come from unchecked emotion that had slipped through as a result of having talked to Kujiragi earlier that day without his prior approval, and while it had worked fine in the end, he didn’t like the idea of speaking without thinking it through first. That was more Shizuo’s department, really.

“Wait, Orihara,” Kadota called suddenly, his expression growing more serious. “Can I ask you something?”

Izaya paused, interested. He smiled welcomingly at the other boy and relaxed his posture. “Of course. It would be an honor.”

“How serious is Shizuo about this whole singing thing?”

Izaya fought back a laugh at how direct the question was, and the fact that he had absolutely no answer. “Isn’t that something you should be asking him?”

Kadota frowned and scratched at his neck. “I would try, but I didn’t think I’d get much out of it. You’re…pretty close to him it seems like, and you’re involved so I thought I’d ask you instead.”

 _Pretty close to him, hm?_ Izaya wondered if that came from something Shizuo had said or from Kadota’s own observations. “Last time I checked he’s determined to go through with it, but I’ve known him to change his mind pretty drastically before. Knowing Shizu-chan he might practice up to the last second and then not show up for the audition if he doesn’t feel like it!”

Kadota nodded slowly. “Alright.”

Izaya decided he wanted to push a little further. “Why do you ask?”

Kadota shrugged, tossing another basketball in the cart nearby. “Just wondering if he’s pushing himself too hard with that stuff _and_ this stuff.” He gestured to the cart. “I might not play him Wednesday. He needs to be in good shape for Friday.”

“I see,” Izaya said, his smile spreading wider. “Shizu-chan is lucky to have such caring friends.”

If it wasn’t a trick of the light Izaya thought Kadota looked almost embarrassed at that. “Well, I can’t have him keeling over, can I?”

“I think it’d take quite a bit for that to happen, but it’d be in everyone’s best interest if it didn’t.” Izaya waved a hand at Kadota. “I should get back to looking. See you later, Dotachin!”

Izaya caught the beginning of a frown and a small chorus of protests about the nickname which he ignored as he headed back inside. He went slower this time, considering calling for Shizuo. Maybe he’d come running like a cute puppy. That would certainly be a lovely opportunity for a few choice comments about the other boy’s more animalistic side.

As it turned out, though he didn’t have to. He saw them out of the corner of his eye. Anyone else might have missed it. It was only because someone had left the blinds partially open when they were cleaning up, causing excess light to pour into the classroom, that he did. Izaya approached the classroom carefully and stepped quickly out of sight when he noticed Kujiragi alongside Shizuo.

Kuronuma was nowhere to be found, which was strange. He supposed she was giving Shizuo a similar talk to the one he’d received the other day. They’d probably given up on him and moved onto the other to see if he would bend any easier. Izaya kneeled down and peered up through the window surreptitiously, wishing he could hear the conversation.

As it was, all he saw was Kujiragi standing far too close to Shizuo who’d managed to back himself up against the teacher’s desk. Izaya frowned, in part at the scene before him and in part at himself for the sharp spike of what appeared to be jealousy which shot through him at witnessing it. It was absurd. He shouldn’t be jealous of such a silly, frivolous girl, and certainly not so easily. He shouldn’t feel the urge to get up and interrupt as quickly as possible rather than sit and observe like usual. This should be something interesting to watch, especially concerning Shizuo’s character, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Instead, Izaya felt strange: his skin was flushed and, especially as Kujiragi paced closer to Shizuo, something akin to _anger_ of all things was boiling in his blood.

Izaya jerked his eyes away, trying to compose himself, to think about it logically. This Kujiragi girl had simply caught Shizuo after practice and lured him into the classroom and was now taking a chance to come onto him, as she often did, if not always so obviously. He didn’t know whether Shizuo was enjoying the situation or not, but why should it matter? So what if he was? He was a teenage boy and one with stronger base instincts than others at that. Kujiragi was conventionally attractive, had all the necessary components to her physique to make her an possible object of desire. It was simple biology.

Still, as much as he insisted to himself that this was meaningless, that he should accept it like any other visual data, add it to the file labeled “Shizuo Heiwajima” and leave it for further analyzation at a later date, he couldn’t completely swallow down the bad taste in the back of his throat or push away the hurt in his chest. It only grew worse when Izaya glanced back to find Kujiragi with her hand on Shizuo’s chest and Shizuo not making any move in the least to put distance between them. If anything he was leaning in.

Izaya dropped down, unable to look any longer. He moved away from the window and stood slowly. His eyes were burning hot, but he refused to acknowledge them. He shoved away his feelings of confusion and _betrayal_ of all things. As if he had some ownership over the other, some priority stake in all that Shizuo was.

How ridiculous.

He started off down the hall once more. Izaya Orihara did not feel things like that for singular humans, or even singular beasts, or monsters, or whatever it was Shizuo Heiwajima was. He did not feel jealous. He had control over such silly, impractical emotions at all times. They were unnecessary and he didn’t bend to them.

Izaya kept focused on this as he walked, not heading back toward the auditorium but instead towards home. If Shizuo wanted to spend his time hanging around with his new breeding partner, that was his choice. Izaya had no obligation to wait around for him. His time was worth much more than that.

[I couldn’t find Shizuo.] Izaya texted Celty about halfway through his journey home alone, ignoring the others around him and anything else outside his phone or his mind. [My sisters had an emergency so I need to head home now. I won’t be able to make it today.]

He didn’t feel any particular need to apologize for his absence, but it would be better to have all his bases covered. He arrived home without even realizing how he’d gotten there. His sisters opened the door for him which probably meant he’d been standing there for some time without noticing it which was obnoxious.

 _You’ve let yourself go_ , he thought irritably, ignoring Mairu and Kururi’s demands to know what was wrong and heading straight for his room. _Pathetic_.

He recovered quickly enough, but only when he began thinking of the myriad ways he could easily ruin Kujiragi’s day, or week, or month. He was disinclined to consider why that was making him feel better. His vision had finally cleared and that was really all that mattered to him at the moment.

*

Kujiragi’s hand was warm on his chest. Shizuo had never had a girl touch him like that before he didn’t think. She was still talking, her breath close enough to feel on his neck. Suddenly it was too close and he’d had enough. Without really thinking, he leaned toward her and shoved her back, pushing himself away while he was at it.

“Back off,” he threatened. She stumbled back, thrown off balance, but at least didn’t run into a desk. Shizuo couldn’t quite find it in himself to feel guilty although he didn’t like pushing people clearly weaker than him around if he could help it. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but you don’t know anything about me. Whatever happens, it’ll be my decision. Izaya can talk, but he’s not the boss of me. Thanks for the advice, but I gotta get to rehearsal.”

Kujiragi was looking at him calculatingly as he spoke, but didn’t move to stop him as he left. Shizuo didn’t like how he could still sort of feel her warmth on him as he walked. Rather than waste time trying to decipher what she’d said, he headed straight for the auditorium where Celty was sitting texting on her phone.

“Yo, Celty,” he called and she jumped in surprise, standing and dashing over to him.

[There you are! We were looking for you! Or, well, Izaya was. Did you see him?]

Shizuo frowned. “No. Sorry about being late. I got held up.”

Celty sighed, but it sounded bemused. [It’s fine, but now you’re here and Izaya isn’t.]

That was sort of a problem. “I’ll go look for him. He probably went outside to find me. I’ll be back.” With that Shizuo took off, jogging back down the hall and out the door.

Kadota was still there, doing some solo practice it seemed. He glanced up when Shizuo ran over, surprised. “Hey, Shizuo. What’s up?”

“Have you seen Izaya?”

Kadota laughed. “Why does this sound familiar?” Shizuo cocked his head at him, not understanding. “No, sorry. Your boy—I mean, he was out here a little while ago looking for you, but he went back inside.”

Shizuo huffed, ignoring Kadota’s stutter. “Figures.”

“You could text him,” Kadota suggested.

 _Oh, duh_. Shizuo was at least 80% sure Izaya’s phone was actually glued to his hand, so that would probably be a good idea. He pulled out his barely-used phone—it was old and slow and pissed him off so he tried not to use it as a precaution; it had been almost-thrown across the room too many times to count—and wrote out a quick text. [hey, im outside now but ill be headed back in soon. meet me back at the auditorium when you get this.]

“Thanks, Kadota,” Shizuo said briefly and then retraced his steps for the third time to the auditorium. Celty was looking at her phone once more when he walked in, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, walking over toward her.

She hesitated but slowly typed something out to show him. [I just got a text from Izaya. He said he can’t come today because of a family emergency, but he was just here ?]

That seemed suspicious to Shizuo too, but he didn’t see why Izaya would miss a practice purposefully. This was _his_ idea. So maybe something really was wrong. “That sucks,” he muttered, worried now about the other boy. “Guess it can’t be helped though.”

Celty nodded, glancing around before writing something else. [Do you want to call it off today?]

Shizuo considered it, but ultimately decided he wanted to keep his mind occupied and that he needed as much practice as he could get. “Would you mind only working with me?”

A slow smile spread across Celty’s face. [Not at all. Let’s get started!]

When he got home Shizuo texted Izaya a few times, asking if everything was okay but didn’t receive any answer for the rest of the night. It made him anxious and annoyed. Why wouldn’t he text back? Was the emergency so bad that he’d actually forgotten his phone? Had it died or something?

It was so bad that Shizuo couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned for an hour before he got up to get a glass of milk, hoping it would help him calm down. He hated being so powerless and half of him wanted to run over to Izaya’s house right then and there and demand to know what was going on.

On his way to the kitchen he ran into Kasuka who appeared to be headed in a similar direction. His younger brother blinked blearily at him with his knowing eyes and asked, “Can’t sleep?”

Shizuo sighed, running a hand through his hair. The kid was too perceptive for his own good. “Yeah.”

Kasuka nodded and fell silent until both of them were standing at the counter with a glass of milk in hand. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly. The dark of the house seeped in around them, but Shizuo didn’t mind it since he was with his brother.

“It’s nothing,” Shizuo said, not wanting to bother Kasuka with his problems. “I’m just worried about a…friend.”

Kasuka blinked, taking a long drink of milk. “I think that’s something important enough.”

Shizuo swallowed the last of the liquid in his own glass and went to get more without responding mostly because he didn’t know what to say. They sat in silence for a few minutes then until Kasuka finished his milk and padded off toward the sink.

“What happened?” he asked quietly, rinsing the glass.

Even milk wasn’t making him feel much better which wasn’t a good sign. Shizuo set his aside and leaned more heavily against the counter. “I don’t know. He said he had some emergency, but he won’t text me what happened.”

“He might be busy,” Kasuka suggested.

“I know,” Shizuo grumbled. That didn’t help to unwind the tension in his muscles or his growing urge to run all the way over to Izaya’s house at the drop of a hat.

Kasuka shuffled back over to him and met his eyes for a brief moment. Shizuo glanced away. He loved his brother, but he didn’t like feeling like he was being seen through. He got that enough with Izaya lately anyway. “Worrying won’t help your friend.”

“I know,” Shizuo insisted, fighting to stay calm. He didn’t like getting angry at Kasuka. For many years he’d been the only one who would come near Shizuo for any extended period of time. The other kids had always been afraid of his temper. “Doesn’t mean I can stop it.”

“You don’t have to,” Kasuka said simply. “Want to play a game with me?”

Shizuo blinked, confused by the non sequitur. “What?”

“We’re both awake anyway.” Kasuka shrugged. “You can’t do anything until tomorrow, can you?”

Well, Shizuo could but he wasn’t going to tell Kasuka about that. Right now, a distraction seemed pretty tempting so he nodded. He was tired and he hated feeling so worked up. It was never a good precursor. “Alright,” he agreed and followed Kasuka to the next room over where they turned the volume all the way down so as not to wake their parents and played until Shizuo managed to lose track of time.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a big one, both in length and importance of content! Like I mentioned before, I apologize for the rushed pacing of this, but I was trying my best to stick to the one week time frame...
> 
> Still, I was really excited to post this one, so I hope you enjoy it! o(^▽^)o

Shizuo was exhausted the next day and he wasn’t making any effort to hide it. Vorona noticed as soon as he walked into school.

“Are you feeling unwell again?” she asked, looking him over clinically, rather than greeting him.

Shizuo heaved a sigh and rubbed at his eyes. “I’m just tired.”

Vorona’s eyebrows drew together. “This is unfortunate. It would be preferable for Senpai to be in good health for our competition today. Exhaustion will also negatively impact your school performance. Suggesting you go to the nurse’s office for a check-up.”

Shizuo didn’t think that was a good idea. He was there so often the nurse knew him by name and didn’t like him very much since he tended to drag at least one other kid, usually sporting a black eye or the like, with him when he showed up. “It’s fine, Vorona.” He was trying to hide the fact that he was looking frantically around, trying to catch a glimpse of dark hair or the edge of a familiar laugh without much luck, and that he wasn’t focusing much on the conversation in the meantime.

Vorona frowned pensively. “As Senpai’s teammate and as his friend, I must advise against this decision.” Still, she made no move to push him further, which was a relief. Vorona was good about giving people their space even when she disagreed with them. Soon after, Kadota and his group approached them. Kadota’s eyes seemed to zero in on Shizuo immediately. He looked away, but the damage was probably already done.

Shizuo didn’t get sick easily, never had really, but he needed to sleep. He was never that guy who stayed up half the night for the hell of it, so having not slept was taking its toll on him, weighing on his bones and his eyes. He knew for sure he’d fall asleep in class that day at some point. Luckily the bell for homeroom rang soon after so he escaped the threat of another mildly patronizing lecture from Kadota for the time being. Izaya wasn’t there which was fricking typical. He could feel too many eyes on him, some of them belonging to Kujiragi and Kuronuma, and even to stupid Kishitani if he was guessing correctly. He could feel the tension winding its way back into his muscles and clenched his fists to try to contain it. When the bell rang he practically ran out of the classroom.

The rest of the day passed slowly. Shizuo searched around for Izaya much like he had the first week he’d shown up and had just as much luck with finding him. He texted him as well and even bothered to ask around, none of which yielded any promising results. He did doze off in class several times, missing entirely anything important his teachers had to say that day, not that it mattered to him. They didn’t usually say anything meaningful anyway. Worse was when he got into a fight for the first time in a few good weeks. His pent-up nervous energy simply became too much and all it took was for one kid to look at him the wrong way and say something stupid about the call-back list and the next thing he knew he was crashing his fist into his face.

He hurt the kid more than he had anyone in a while because he usually tried his best not to beat anyone up unless they were seriously asking for it. The kid was sent to the nurse and he was sent to the office, per usual. He almost expected Izaya to pop up then, at the worst possible time, to say something taunting and infuriating like he always did, but he didn’t. It almost would have been a relief. He was only glad he talked the administrator into letting him schedule his detention for next week which he figured she only allowed since he hadn’t been making trouble lately.

Shizuo hated feeling like he did. He hated getting into fights, he hated resorting to violence, and more than anything he hated how Izaya made him feel, made him act. He’d never been so single-mindedly frustrated about something in his entire life. The longer he couldn’t find Izaya the more the urge to punch the guy in the face like he had that stupid kid festered within him.

Why couldn’t he just act like a normal person? Why did he have to be so weird and annoying on purpose? What right did he have to draw Shizuo in and then leave him out to flop around like a fish left on a dock after it had already been hooked? This whole thing had been ridiculous from the start. If someone had told him that he’d actually grow to be somehow _attached_ to the guy enough to wind himself up so tightly over him in a few weeks’ time the night they’d met he would have clocked them. But there he was.

The thing he hated most of all, he thought, was that he couldn’t figure out how to stop any of it. Some switch had been flipped within him, and now, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reset it.

At last the day came to an end and Shizuo forced himself to put one foot in front of the other and make his way over to the court. He slumped down on a bench as soon as he got there and put his head in his hands. He was really in no shape to be playing, but he’d promised Kadota. Another spike of irritation stabbed at him when he realized he’d said he’d be focused and yet there he sat, his mind spinning circles around a smug smirk and mischievous laughter instead of plays and warm-ups _again_.

Vorona was the second to arrive, spotting him immediately and coming to sit beside him. She was quiet for a brief amount of time as they watched the other kids walk by, off to their clubs or other various after-school activities. The team they were playing was from another school, so they had a bit of time before the game started while they waited for them to arrive. “Does Senpai desire to talk about what is bothering him?” she finally asked.

Shizuo huffed. He’d sort of been waiting to talk to Celty since she was usually the one he dumped stuff like this on—not that that was really fair to her—but he couldn’t say no to Vorona forever. “Izaya’s avoiding me.”

Vorona nodded, her expression changing into the one that meant she was trying to rearrange whatever he was feeling into something more logical. “Did he indicate any cause for his actions?”

“No,” Shizuo growled. “Said his sisters had an emergency yesterday out of the blue and left early. I texted him, but he won’t write back. I heard from some kids that they saw him around today, but I couldn’t find him when I looked. If he’s here there’s no reason he should be pulling this shit. He’s probably doing it to piss me off.” But Shizuo still didn’t understand _why_. If he had a reason, maybe he could reconcile this behavior, but there was nothing.

“Perhaps,” Vorona said and Shizuo was stupidly glad to hear _someone_ agree with him. “Possibly Orihara-kun has a personal issue he wishes to deal with alone at this time.”

“Fine!” Shizuo said, too loud. “But he could let me know that. I haven’t been able to get rid of him for over a week. What the hell does _he_ suddenly need space for?”

Vorona cocked her head, pursing her lips. Shizuo was always impressed by how meticulously she thought over everything, even in situations like this which didn’t involve her in the least. He didn’t know how she did it. “That is indeed contradictory behavior,” she said. “It is understandable that Senpai would feel anxiety over someone he cares about.”

Shizuo balked at that. “Who said I care about him?”

Vorona turned to face him, her eyebrows pulling together slightly. “The former was not stated directly, but it could be assumed from behavioral and speech patterns. For example, Orihara-san is acting unwell or contrary to his normal manner, and thus you are concerned for his well-being and that you may be somehow involved in the issue. Anxiety often occurs over the health of one’s relationship with someone close to them. This is one consequence of attraction. Please inform if I have incorrectly interpreted the situation and my apology will be prompt.”

Shizuo sat frozen momentarily, unsure how to respond. It was strange to hear Vorona label it so clearly and simply, but now it was out there and the words wouldn’t leave his mind. _One consequence of attraction_. Shizuo supposed he’d known what it was, knew all the words for it, but he’d never said any of them, never tried them out on his tongue, even tried not to think them. That was what it meant when you kissed someone, when you thought about them too much, when you had dumbass dreams about them. But he hadn’t wanted to think about it. Maybe he’d thought that, if he didn’t say it, it wasn’t real. It certainly felt terrifyingly real now that Vorona had spoken.

“You didn’t,” he finally muttered. The others were approaching by that point, waving as they came closer. It was something of a relief to admit it, he thought. It was out there now and he didn’t have to deal with locking it up in his head anymore. It wasn’t like he was ever one to keep secrets.

Something of a small smile graced Vorona’s face. “I advise you to give Orihara-san the space he desires. It is my belief that he will return to you soon enough. The behaviors I spoke of before are mutual, after all.”

Shizuo wasn’t so sure he believed that part, but he forced himself to nod.

The other team showed up soon after and the game began. Shizuo felt better after talking to Vorona but still wasn’t entirely focused, which Kadota seemed to notice. He put him in occasionally, but Shizuo sat and watched most of the game. He knew he wasn’t the best player ever, but he was tall and strong and fast, and he knew the team was struggling without him. They scraped by with a victory, but only barely.

He was sure Vorona was right about giving Izaya space, but that wasn’t him, and he couldn’t let this go on any longer. Shizuo was determined to sort this crap out and be ready for the game on Friday. After apologizing to Kadota who waved him off, he ran off to the scene he expected to find which was of Celty sitting alone, practicing the piano with no Izaya in sight. It sealed his decision. He was going to talk to Izaya that night one way or another.

*

It was simultaneously cute and obnoxious how Shizuo went running around looking for him all day. The boy apparently had no idea how to take a hint. Izaya’s phone didn’t stop buzzing all day either, which was a feat in and of itself considering how overloaded it had already been in the morning when he’d turned it back on. Izaya read the texts, but didn’t respond, just as he watched, but made no move to show himself throughout the day.

The highlight was watching Shizuo get into his little spiff, Izaya thought. It was always thrilling to be close to Shizuo when all his energy transferred into action like that. It was like watching a sun implode: even from a distance one could feel the heat, experience the aftermath. The other kid went down like a bowling pin. It made Izaya want to see the other in a real fight. He supposed that was an acceptable thing to feel. Shizuo was nothing more than an experiment to him anyway, something to watch, to observe, to possibly interact with occasionally in limited amounts. And maybe that was where he’d gone wrong. He’d gotten too close, poked too much, too soon.

That didn’t exactly explain the aches in his chest and his head that wouldn’t go away, but he wrote them off as him coming down with something. He’d never had the strongest immune system anyway. The day passed slowly. It was boring and Izaya was more tired than he wanted to admit. Even collecting money at lunch from the poor saps in the lab didn’t bring him as much giddy joy as usual which was incredibly vexing.

He kept thinking about responding to Shizuo, kept thinking about emerging casually at some random point in the day and he hated it. He didn’t understand why his mind wouldn’t drop the subject already. Eventually he settled with distracting himself by playing around with Kuronuma. What had occurred wasn’t really his fault, but he had bigger plans for Kujiragi herself which were still in the works. He told himself he was still irritated that they’d stuck him in Shinra’s stupid club.

He’d told a few of the younger, more persistent girls that hung around him that he’d heard Kuronuma really liked them but was too embarrassed to tell them as a sort of distraction. The boy always seemed the type that liked to pretend he was a lady’s man, after all. Then he slipped a few interesting things into his backpack, dropping a tip by the office later. It probably wouldn’t amount to more than a detention, but it was fun to watch humans react to something they believed to be impossible, even Kuronuma. It at least took his mind off of things for a couple of hours.

Shinra’s jaw had almost dropped off when he saw Izaya walk into the classroom early for the club meeting for what was probably the first time. “Orihara-kun!” he cried, jumping to his feet and rushing over. “You’re never early! Spending time with my dear Celty must be having a positive effect on you! That’s amazing! I can’t wait to tell her later!”

Izaya rolled his eyes, but allowed Shinra’s babbling to fill his mind. He had to admit that the team _was_ improving, albeit at a snail’s pace. The chances of them winning were slim, he thought, but he figured he could talk Shinra into letting him go anyway if his attendance was good enough. That was what he was doing there, after all, not hiding, simply fulfilling his end of a deal. He was always a man of his word.

He even stepped up in the middle of a few people solving problems to point out what they were doing wrong rather than letting them finish first as he normally did. He thought Shinra’s father was going to keel over and die of a heart attack the way he reacted. Izaya showed them a few of their consistent mistakes on the board and felt like gagging as he watched how eagerly they took notes. Shinra’s smile was burning a hole into the back of his head meanwhile. He did find some excitement in holding their attention so easily. How quickly they were willing to believe everything he said. Sure, Kishitani-sensei was there and probably wouldn’t let him get away with much, but if he wasn’t. well, the possibilities would be endless.

He kept that in mind for later. The practice went by suspiciously fast. “Good job today, Orihara-kun!” Shinra said, going to help his father clean up. “Tell Celty hi for me!”

Izaya didn’t respond, and didn’t move. He thought about showing up at rehearsal, acting as if nothing was wrong. The call-backs were the next day and they needed the practice, if they were going to do them. Izaya had no idea, truthfully. Shizuo might show up only to watch his new girlfriend take the starring role with no effort at all on her part.

That in mind, he opted for heading home once more, not bothering to text Celty to notify her of his cancellation. He doubted it would be necessary. As he walked home he stopped to observe his surroundings, to watch the people move around him, through the city, and felt better. He’d been so focused on Shizuo recently that he’d hardly spent any time people-watching, which was a shame. It was nice, he told himself, to get back to something he enjoyed so much.

He stayed out longer than he had in a while, walking around the city. Chances were he would move again soon, most likely during the summer, so he needed to get to know it while he could. He’d decided he liked Ikebukuro. There was so much going on, so many different types of people. It would be a shame to leave. He told himself that was the only reason he didn’t want to.

Back at home everything was quiet. He’d been poking around internet chatrooms recently, finding them to be amusing in their own right, but things were relatively quiet that evening. Even one member named Setton who seemed to be on constantly was nowhere to be found. Izaya wondered if they had a significant other to attend to or something of the like.

Eventually he snapped his laptop closed and tossed it aside, falling back onto his bed. He supposed he needed to start planning something else for Kujiragi-chan, but he wasn’t particularly interested in doing that at the moment for whatever reason. He thought he might actually be tired enough to doze off when there was a knock at the front door. It was heavy and insistent and caused him to sit up.

His sisters went rushing down the stairs to open it, always interested in shoving their noses into as many people’s business as possible, including their parents’. “Hello?” he heard Mairu trill as the door was opened. Whoever answered had too deep of a voice for him to be able to catch it from where he sat, so he stood and crept closer. When he did he was momentarily shocked to realize it was _Shizuo_ of all people.

_What does he want?_ Kururi was sitting on the stairs in a way that she could see both him and the door where Mairu was apparently chatting up a storm at Shizuo. Izaya almost felt sorry for him. Kururi looked at him in confusion when he didn’t step out but stayed silent for the time being.

Then, suddenly, Mairu shouted, “Iza-nii! Your boyfriend wants to talk to you!” loud enough that half the neighborhood could probably hear her and he found the urge to do something that would definitely result in him getting in trouble if their parents were around to notice it to her.

Still, he supposed he’d stayed hidden long enough. Izaya Orihara did not hide from his problems. There was no reason he couldn’t talk to Shizuo. Perhaps the other boy even wanted to cancel the audition for the next day and that would save him a lot of time spent sitting around and having to hear Kujiragi and Kuronuma sing anyway, so really he’d come out on top. It’d be even better if Shizuo tried to hide what had happened, though Izaya doubted he would. The most frustrating thing about this whole situation was that there was probably little to no chance Shizuo had done this on purpose. There was no deception, no purposeful cruelty to his actions, only simple ignorance.

Izaya made his way down the stairs, stepping past Kururi and into Shizuo’s line of sight for the first time that day. “Making assumptions is rude, Mairu,” he chided, making sure his face was a mask of nonchalance. “Look, you’ve embarrassed poor Shizu-chan.” Shizuo’s face really was red, which was amusing to see. “If he wants to come out to the neighbors, he can do it in his own time.”

Shizuo’s expression grew exponentially more annoyed at the comment and Izaya could see his fists clenching at his sides. _Good. We never should have strayed from this in the first place_. This he could handle. This he could control.

Meanwhile, Mairu pouted at him. “What do you mean? It’s not a secret. We’ve seen you come home with him before.”

“So walking home with someone automatically means they’re romantically involved?” Izaya asked, stepping down onto the ground floor. “You should start telling all your little friends that.”

“I guess not,” Mairu said thoughtfully, then lit up as if she’d had a brilliant idea which was never a good sign. “They could be sexually involved too!”

Izaya’s expression got tighter in a way he knew would make it so Mairu would see that she had crossed a line and he was done joking around. His sisters knew that line better than anyone else. Shizuo, on the other hand, who seemed to be determined to not make eye contact with either of them, wouldn’t know any better. He let a sharp grin slice across his face which he directed at the other boy. “I suppose you have a point, Mairu. There’s certainly a distinction between those two things. But you can talk more to Shizu-chan about that later if you want. He came here to talk to me about something and we wouldn’t want to waste his time.”

Mairu looked ready to start up again in spite of his warning look, but Kururi had descended the stairs by then—he watched Shizuo’s eyes flick between them as he recognized their identical looks—and grabbed onto her sister’s shoulder. “Let’s play dolls,” Kururi suggested quietly.

Mairu’s face lit up again. “Good idea! Bye Iza-nii’s boyfriend! Don’t worry about keeping him late! Our parents aren’t home anyway!”

Izaya decided it was time to step outside, half-shoving Shizuo off the front step in the process, and slam the door on the two of them. He peered in through the window to make sure they ran upstairs afterwards rather than staying and eavesdropping before turning back to Shizuo. It was cool night out which was probably doing some good for the other boy’s spectacularly red complexion.

He let a smirk settle onto his face and made sure Shizuo saw, not bothering to make any excuse for his sister’s behavior. He thought the other could use some mortification he couldn’t fix by throwing his fist at it now and again. “So, Shizu-chan, to what do I owe this honor? Coming all the way here so late just to talk to me, it must be important.”

Shizuo shook himself, probably gathering his wits back after the shock of hearing a girl in primary comment blatantly about sexual attraction to her elders—he understood, even if he wasn’t entirely sympathetic—and refocused on whatever it was he’d come to do. Izaya leaned back against the door, waiting. He crossed his arms so his hands wouldn’t act on their own as they’d done a few times before concerning Shizuo and make it seem like he wanted him there.

Finally, it seemed the other was ready, and he caught Izaya’s gaze and held it. “Where the hell have you been?” he demanded, his voice too loud for the stillness of the night around them.

Izaya laughed, always impressed by how blunt he could be. “Around. What does it matter to you? Did Shizu-chan hear another rumor about me that made his cute little friends start complaining again?”

“You know what I meant.” Shizuo stepped forward and grabbed at his collar and suddenly Izaya thought they could be back at the first day they’d met at school, when Shizuo had shoved him up against the wall next to the classroom and Izaya had made little effort to escape when the action had taken his breath away. This time was different though. He grabbed back at Shizuo’s wrist and squeezed hard. He wasn’t as strong as the other boy, but he knew how to break someone’s grip on him. He jabbed his fingers into the space between the skin of Shizuo’s wrist and his bones and twisted away from him when his fingers went slack.

He spun so his back was facing the front gate, watching as Shizuo followed after him, momentarily confused by his quick movements. Izaya forced something colder, something sharper into his expression before he responded. “If you’re talking about today’s rehearsal, I’m truly sorry, Shizu-chan, but I made other plans, and really, I thought you might have as well. If you’re here to tell me something, you should get on with it. I don’t need you wasting my time.” The words didn’t come as easily as they normally did, nor did the venom he forcibly laced them with. He didn’t like seeing the open hurt that spilled into Shizuo’s eyes as he spoke, but he wasn’t going to be the one to look away first.

“What the fuck is your problem?” he snapped, advancing toward Izaya again. “You don’t leave me alone for weeks and then today you’re nowhere to be found. Last I heard you had some family emergency, but that must have been bullshit, seeing how I just saw your sisters and they seem to be fine. I text you all day and don’t hear anything even though I’ve never seen you put your goddamn phone down once since I’ve known you. Now I come here to make sure you haven’t…” He paused, struggling for the words and growling when he was unable to find them. “Whatever, and you act like _I_ was the one avoiding _you_ all day for no reason!”

Izaya forced himself to laugh and it came out sharp and rough. “I thought I’d told you this before, but my life doesn’t revolve around you. You act as if you’ve ever pretended like you care to have me around.” He had, Izaya thought, but he’d never strayed away from twisting the facts before, especially during an argument when opponents were thinking too subjectively to notice. “You didn’t seem to care at all about what I was doing yesterday.” Shizuo’s eyebrows gathered in confusion and Izaya felt the urge to laugh once more, but honestly this time. “I suppose I should thank you for your concern, but it’s certainly ill-placed. Since you came all this way, let me offer you some advice, no charge. Your girlfriend won’t like it if you spend all your time worried about people other than her.”

There it was. Izaya wasn’t going to say it, he didn’t think, wasn’t going to reference it so obviously, didn’t want to even, but Shizuo was apparently too thick-headed to take the hint any other way. Shizuo’s mouth opened as if he wanted to respond, but snapped right shut soon after. He glared at Izaya, his whole body strung tightly as a string on a violin, and Izaya watched as some connection was finally made in his mind.

He tilted his chin up and continued while he waited for whatever fat, lazy hamster spun the wheels in Shizuo’s brain to get on with it. “She must be pretty brave to try to take you on, Shizu-chan. Or maybe she’s just desperate.” He shrugged amiably. “I won’t judge. Either way I’m sure if she keeps you around long enough you’ll make her first time memorable.” Izaya’s efforts to keep his words light, taunting, and impersonal weren’t working as well as he’d hoped. He could occasionally hear the break in them, and figured Shizuo could too, but he decided he didn’t give a damn. He didn’t care what this boy thought of him. He could go home grumbling under his breath about how heartless, how obnoxious, even how unbelievably petty he was, and it wouldn’t make a difference to him. “How’s it feel to finally have succeeded in luring in your prey? I’d keep a close watch on her. It might take you 17 more years to do it again. Don’t throw away this chance.”

Shizuo had gone from confused to furious once more. Izaya thought he could see a vein pulsing on the other boy’s forehead and felt himself shaking with adrenaline from speaking like he had to someone so obviously poised to return fire at any moment. Without warning, Shizuo lunged forward, grabbing onto Izaya once more and not letting go this time. “Shut the _fuck_ up!” he snarled and he was close enough that Izaya could feel his breath on his face. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Izaya scoffed, rolling his eyes. He could feel himself getting irritated and tried to force it away. He knew Shizuo was slow, but this was getting to be a little much. “I was trying for subtlety, but I suppose such things are wasted on protozoan minds. Don’t you recall? Your sweet little rendezvous with Kujiragi-chan yesterday afternoon in that empty classroom? It was terribly cliché, Shizu-chan. I’d think even you could do better. And now you’ve come here to tell me that tomorrow is off for the sake of your new sweetheart. I don’t blame you, but all this beating around the bush is getting tedious.” Izaya was doing his best to act like Shizuo didn’t have an unbreakable grip on the collar of his shirt while he spoke, like he wasn’t struggling against it all the while.

Finally something lit up in Shizuo’s eyes. If it took this long for him to understand simple things, Izaya almost felt bad for Kujiragi. He paused and released Izaya slightly but not quite enough to let him go free for a few moments before he began shoving him back across the yard and into one of the trees there, forcing him up against it roughly. “You think you’re really smart, huh?” he snapped, getting close enough that Izaya could see his teeth again. “You think you’ve got it all figured out?”

Shizuo was pushing up against him so hard that it was making it difficult for Izaya to breath which was making his chest ache with the effort of trying, but Izaya managed force out a brief, “It seemed fairly obvious to me,” nonetheless.

“Whatever you _thought_ you saw,” Shizuo said, pushing him up against the tree again. Izaya could feel the bark digging into his back and probably some semblance of bruising forming, “is bullshit. I don’t know what you got into that little head of yours, but I’m not _dating_ Kujiragi. She pulled me into that classroom yesterday to try to talk me down from the audition and got too close so I shoved her back.”

“Really?” Izaya said breathlessly, trying not to cough or choke though the position was becoming painful. “When I walked by looking for you you didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move away.” He paused to gasp a thin breath before he continued. “You don’t have to lie to me, Shizu-chan. It’s simple biology. It’s natural for you to want to—”

Shizuo shoved up against him once more, effectively cutting him off. “Don’t you ever stop talking? Look, I can’t make you believe me and I’m not gonna waste my breath trying since you seem perfectly happy to make shit up on your own time without any help from me, but you at least owe me some answers.”

Izaya laughed breathlessly to keep up his bluff. “Ask away.”

“How the fuck are you such a hypocrite all the time?” Izaya frowned, truly confused for the first time that night. “Aren’t you the one telling me not to listen to rumors? If you didn’t hear it out of my mouth, you shouldn’t assume it’s true. Who said I wasn’t doing the audition? You think I spent all that time learning that music, staying after practice, working with you and Celty to just let it drop?” His grip slowly loosened and he began to set Izaya down. Izaya gasped as the pressure against his abdomen was removed, working to catch his breath so he wouldn’t have to focus on the sinking feeling he was getting from Shizuo’s words.

Shizuo stepped back some and looked him over, his brow furrowing once more. “And you really think I’d go behind your back with Kujiragi?” He laughed, but it was humorless. “You think that I kissed you for no reason? You think I spent time with you, walked you home, came here tonight because I don’t give a fuck? I came here because I was worried about you, you piece of shit.”

Izaya let himself fall back against the tree as he took in what Shizuo was saying. He wanted to brush it off, but that ache in his chest was back and worse than before. It felt suspiciously like shame and Izaya wanted to stop it, but didn’t know how. Shizuo fell silent after his own outburst and they stood sizing each other up. Izaya’s heartbeat slowed from its dangerous rate earlier, but never settled entirely.

He hadn’t considered that he might be wrong, and he still wasn’t entirely sure that he had been. Why had Shizuo allowed Kujiragi so close in the first place?

But really he knew it went deeper than that, to something suspicious within himself, and he was at a loss for what to say, which was mortifying and incredibly vexing. There was no reason Shizuo should be able to do this to him. He was simple and short-tempered and gullible and there was no reason his terse words should have made Izaya feel the way he did. He shouldn’t have felt relieved, shouldn’t have felt bad for what he said. It wasn’t as if he owed Shizuo anything. He was above such a silly emotional scene as this.

Then Shizuo decided to keep talking. He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with nothing to say,” he muttered, sighing. He stepped back another step, giving Izaya more space. He huffed a laugh. “It’s kind of creepy actually.”

Izaya laughed too, if only for something to do. He didn’t think he’d ever felt like this before, and the novelty of it was something he was trying to grasp onto in order to ground himself. “Trying to translate protozoan into human speech is difficult, Shizu-chan, especially when it’s being shouted in your face. Give me some time.”

Shizuo shook his head at him again. “Look, I’m not asking you to apologize. Figure you probably wouldn’t even if I was. I don’t really care, but this isn’t gonna work if you really think I’m gonna screw you over like that so easily, and it _really_ isn’t gonna work if you don’t believe me when I tell you something like that.”

“What do you mean ‘this’?” Izaya asked because he couldn’t find anything else he wanted to poke at in his words. He certainly wasn’t going to apologize, Shizuo was right about that, and he wasn’t ready to admit he was grateful that Shizuo didn’t expect it, but he was still not quite steady, wasn’t entirely sure the ground beneath his feet was solid once more.

Shizuo frowned. “You know what I mean. Listen, Izaya, I—” He paused, clenching and unclenching his hands for moment, seeming to build himself up to something. Eventually he turned back to him and there was something exhilaratingly certain in his eyes. “I like you. I like being with you. Sometimes, like now, I can’t wrap my head around _why_ , but I don’t want to be away from you. You piss me off sometimes, but I can’t get rid of you. And I think that means something. And sure, it annoys me a little, but I don’t think anyone’s ever run _towards_ me before. No one’s ever hung around me when I chased them off before. You’re crazy, and stubborn, and smart, and brave, and I’m sick of being scared to admit that. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, even you, anymore. Maybe it’s simple, but I can’t figure it out any other way. I like you, and that’s it.” Shizuo swallowed hard after he was done and turned away, pacing out across the yard. He came back soon after however, scowling at Izaya. “Well? Got something to say?”

If the world had been tilted before, surely now it was spinning. Izaya had never imagined Shizuo would say such a thing to him, and certainly not in so many words. It felt like he’d been shoving things he didn’t want to think about, was unwilling to name and define even when he knew exactly what they were into a closet for weeks and Shizuo had come along and yanked it open without warning, causing everything to fall on top of Izaya at once, tangible and unavoidable. His pulse jumped in his neck and took off a sprint, and he felt vaguely lightheaded. He gripped onto the tree behind him to keep himself as level as he could, ignoring the way the bark bit into the skin of his fingers. Something suspiciously like elation seemed to be blooming in his chest, and he couldn’t swallow it back no matter what he did. He couldn’t sort out whatever else he might be feeling, other than giddy at how Shizuo continued to surmount his expectations, but he supposed it didn’t really matter.

Izaya grinned, but he had no idea what it might look like, and tried to relax his posture the best he could. “I know,” he said, wishing his voice wasn’t so heavy with warmth. “I told you that before, didn’t I? I should be proud. I think you’re finally learning to listen to me.”

Shizuo pressed his lips together hard and Izaya chose to believe it was because he was trying not to smile. He shook his head at Izaya and approached him once more, slowly and with purpose, and Izaya felt trapped in the best possible way. “You’re unbelievable,” Shizuo muttered, bracketing his arms on either side of Izaya’s head.

“You like it,” Izaya countered, and then turned his voice more musical, practically singing. “Shizu-chan _likes me_.”

Shizuo scoffed and knocked their foreheads together lightly. “You’re supposed to say it back, you know.”

Izaya wondered when this had become so comfortable, why leaning up closer felt like a habit instead of something he’d only begun doing a couple of weeks ago. He wondered if he should be worried about it, but quickly decided he could do that later. “I know, but that’d be boring.” He paused, but decided he wanted to continue, if only for Shizuo’s sake. He’d probably get stupid ideas in his head if he didn’t. “I’ll say it when you least expect it instead. It’ll be more fun that way.”

Izaya was too close to see Shizuo’s mouth but he watched as the corners of his eyes turned up and something in his eyes came alive, and it made that strange warmth in his chest expand in a way he could no longer control, only kindle. And then Shizuo was kissing him again and it felt different to kiss someone who had said what Shizuo had, even though Izaya knew logically that it shouldn’t. It was the same way they’d kissed in the hallway, and on the way home, and in front of his house, but it wasn’t.

He brought one hand up to rest on Shizuo’s shoulder and another to cup along the edge of his jaw, and kissed back harder, holding on tight when Shizuo appeared to be pulling back but was really only adjusting his position so he could lean closer more comfortably. Yes, it was definitely different, because _Shizuo_ was different from anyone else Izaya had ever met. Of course, that only led him into the bigger question all along, that being _what makes him different?_ or _what is Shizuo Heiwajima really?_ but Izaya was hardly against doing some further, thorough investigation on the topic. It might take a few years, but he would figure it out eventually, he was sure.

*

Shizuo gripped the warm cup Izaya handed him tightly, trying to absorb its warmth the best he could, as quickly as he could. They’d stayed outside way too long for reasons that made it so Shizuo kept noticing how red Izaya’s lips were—which was frustrating only because it made him want to make them even redder—and so his arms still hurt from where they’d been pushed up against that stupid tree for so long. The cold had crept in without them noticing, intensifying as the night became darker, and both of them were shivering before they realized they should probably move elsewhere, or at least go inside.

Izaya had, surprisingly, invited him into his house, and though Shizuo was hesitant at first he eventually accepted. He’d already told his mom he was going over to a friend’s house, so she probably wouldn’t be too concerned about where he was. Izaya had gone off immediately to make some tea while Shizuo sat down on the floor of their living room. The house didn’t look very lived in. There were things here and there, most of which appeared to belong to Izaya’s sisters, but large sections were unnervingly spotless.

The two girls must have still been upstairs for which Shizuo was grateful. In hindsight, maybe the front yard wasn’t the best place to being doing stuff like that, since they could have been watching the whole time. Shizuo forced the thought from his head and watched as Izaya returned from cleaning up, moving to sit down next to him, his normal smirk resting back upon his face.

Shizuo was still vaguely pissed off about the stupid misunderstanding that had taken place which had been entirely Izaya’s fault. He couldn’t believe Izaya would think something so dumb, but it seemed like the other boy was more easily swayed than he might have thought. He’d been surprised by the jealousy and hurt he’d heard in his voice outside, but also gratified, in a way, to see these parts of Izaya he hadn’t been shown yet. It appeared that unmasking Izaya Orihara _was_ possible, but that it would take time and proximity, not that Shizuo really minded the latter. It wasn’t like he’d expected everything he found to be pretty, but still.

“I can’t believe you thought I was dating Kujiragi,” he muttered, sipping at his hot tea.

Izaya turned to frown at him momentarily before his expression melted into something too-sweet once more. “Of course I wouldn’t _actually_ believe something like that,” he claimed smoothly. “It was only a way to test Shizu-chan’s loyalty. And in any case, I was really only _helping_ you. If I hadn’t planned out this confrontation scene you probably _never_ would have gotten around to confessing. You needed a little push. And it worked didn’t it? So really, you should be grateful to me.”

Shizuo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He set his tea cup off to the side so he wouldn’t break it accidentally. “You’re really going to try to act like this was some big set-up?” The worst part was Shizuo was almost willing to believe him, if it weren’t for those flashes of honest hurt he’d seen on his face and heard in his voice outside. No, he was only bluffing, trying to patch up his wounded pride, attempting to plaster back together the parts of his mask which had been broken off before, and really Shizuo hadn’t expected much different.

But Izaya caught his eyes then and he got the feeling Izaya knew that he knew. He suddenly felt as if he was in on some secret, and he got it. Izaya liked to keep control over his emotions and, well, he couldn’t blame him for that. He’d do it too, if he could, and as long as Izaya knew he would never be able to hide everything—that he _shouldn’t_ hide everything—Shizuo didn’t mind playing along all that much. “Wasn’t my acting phenomenal? I thought this would be a good opportunity to practice for the show.”

_Oh, yeah, that_ , Shizuo thought. He picked his teacup back up and took another drink. The feeling was beginning to return to his toes. “It was something alright.”

They lapsed into silence then, but it was comfortable. Izaya was sitting what would probably be too close for a public space, but was almost not close enough for Shizuo. He felt strangely free, like a world of opportunities had been opened up in front of him. Sure, Izaya hadn’t said it outright, but he never said anything important clearly. Shizuo was relieved to have it out in the open, to be able to stop worrying about that at least. There’d be plenty of other shit to get worked up over soon enough, but he could deal with it when it came. And now, he thought, if he wanted, he could lean over and kiss Izaya right then, or the next day, or next week.

And he did. Izaya smiled into the kiss and Shizuo could taste the warmth of the tea still on his lips. “So what _did_ you tell dear Kujiragi yesterday about the musical?” Izaya asked, continuing the conversation as if that was a normal sort of pause to take.

“That I’d make the decision on my own,” Shizuo said honestly.

Izaya’s eyes locked onto him and his gaze was piercing. “And have you?”

Shizuo nodded. He felt more sure than ever now. “I want to do it.”

Izaya’s eyes gleamed, but then he started giggling and Shizuo realized his mistake before the other spoke again. “Maybe when my sisters aren’t in the house, Shizu-chan, but it’s cute that you’re so eager.”

Shizuo kicked at the other’s leg. “You’re ridiculous. You know what I meant.”

“Shizu-chan should learn to take a joke,” Izaya suggested, digging his knee into Shizuo’s thigh and not bothering to move it after a few seconds, forcing Shizuo to move away himself. “Without me around you’d be incredibly bored.”

Shizuo didn’t think that was the word for it, but he knew he was having trouble remembering what it was like when Izaya wasn’t around. It was almost embarrassing how quickly this all had happened, but Shizuo decided he didn’t care to worry about it. “You with me then? Tomorrow?”

Izaya scooted back to close to him before he spoke. “I suppose I could make time.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say. We're almost to the end, wrapping things up here. This one's a bit of filler, I'm afraid, but some important things happen too. Thank you for sticking around, if you've made it this far ^v^

Earlier that afternoon, Kuronuma followed Kujiragi after school toward the theatre office. Their attempts at swaying Orihara hadn’t gone the way they’d hoped, which was probably to be expected. Aoba didn’t think he’d ever met a more crooked guy. Their next idea had been to try to talk Heiwajima out of it, which Aoba had figured could work. The guy didn’t look at all like he was meant to be on stage and those jock guys were usually pretty worried about their reputation around the school. All that plus Kujiragi coming onto him—he’d thought it would be easy.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Orihara was having more than one negative effect on Heiwajima and the guy had had the gall to push Kujiragi away _and_ not promise that he wouldn’t do the call-backs. Aoba had wondered if Kujiragi might be upset. She was pretty interested in the guy even if she didn’t show it very openly, and he was interested to see what might happen, but she hadn’t batted an eye. Maybe that was to be expected as well. She’d never been very emotional, or emotional at all.

They’d decided at that point that talking wasn’t going to get through to either of them, and it was time for a new approach. Aoba, after asking around a little, had come up with a convenient plan that seemed pretty fool-proof. Orihara might think he knew his stuff, but he wasn’t the only one who could find things out.

Apparently Orihara and Heiwajima both had competitions at the same time on Friday afternoon. Luckily for them, the call-backs _had_ been scheduled the day before, making it so they would have no trouble making it to both of their events. However, a simple date change would fix that. All that was left was to convince Yagiri which was never too difficult of a task.

Kujiragi knocked on the door to the office and was soon beckoned inside.

“Ah, Kujiragi-chan! Kuronuma-kun!” Yagiri called, smiling when he saw who it was. It hadn’t been hard to win the man over. He was hopelessly desperate for someone who respected him, or at least pretended like they did. As it was, Aoba and Kujiragi had no problem doing just that if it meant they remained favorites in his eyes. “What can I do for you?”

“Hello, Yagiri-sensei,” Kujiragi greeted politely. “I’m sorry to tell you so late, but I’m afraid Aoba and I have a conflict tomorrow afternoon and will be unable to make the call-backs.”

Yagiri’s face fell and his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “W-what do you mean?” Aoba imagined he was panicking over the fact that they were the only ones in the theatre program who could actually sing. Without them, it would have fallen apart years ago.

“We’re very sorry, Yagiri-sensei,” Aoba added. “It was very sudden. It’s too bad the call-backs aren’t on Friday, but we understand that it would be difficult to move them—”

“You would be able to perform Friday then?” Yagiri demanded, seeming a little frantic and overdramatic, even for him. Aoba wished he could take a few steps back.

“Yes,” Kujiragi confirmed. “That would fit much better into our schedules.”

Yagiri pressed his lips together in thought. “Well, we’ll miss a day of rehearsal, but not much usually gets done the first day anyway. Very well. I see no reason why pushing the call-backs back to Friday would cause any conflict. The auditorium isn’t being used for anything else that day.”

Kujiragi smiled at Yagiri. “That’s wonderful to hear,” she said, probably meaning to seem excited. “We will be able to do the call-backs after all.”

Yagiri sighed in relief. “I’ll post the change of date up on the bulletin board tomorrow then. It’s no trouble, really. You two are our star performers after all.”

“Great!” Aoba said, grinning, though it had little do with what Yagiri was saying. They’d finally cornered them. He could feel it. There was no way to get out of this. Even if Orihara skipped his event, he couldn’t audition without Heiwajima and he was too attached to his little team to miss a game. “Thank you so much, Yagiri-sensei!”

Yagiri waved them out. “I look forward to hearing your audition!”

Aoba smiled at Kujiragi as they set off down the hall again and she nodded at him. Friday couldn’t get there soon enough.

*

Shizuo ended up staying overnight at Izaya’s which wasn’t anything he thought he’d ever do, but there he was. Nothing happened, particularly because Mairu and Kururi were still around and reappeared occasionally from wherever they were hiding upstairs. It seemed like they were waiting for something to happen, which was more than a little disturbing. Shizuo was still dealing with what Mairu—as he’d been informed he’d been talking to—had said to him before, not out of any previous plan of Izaya’s to turn his whole family against Shizuo but, in fact, of her own free-will because that was just how she talked. He liked Kururi better because of how quiet she stayed. She almost reminded him of Kasuka in some ways.

He’d thought Izaya would kick him out eventually, but the other never made any move to. He didn’t exactly invite him to stay, but with Izaya silences were often signs of acquiescence that he didn’t feel like voicing aloud. It felt strange to see Izaya outside of school, in his own home. It was oddly domestic, but Shizuo thought he could get used to it. He could get used to seeing Izaya walking around in only his pajamas. He could even deal with getting used to sleeping on the couch if he had to.

Izaya, on the other hand, was restless and kept trying to nudge him into some state of irritation. Shizuo guessed he’d have to get used to that too. He didn’t get why Izaya couldn’t just let himself be comfortable, but maybe he wasn’t, or maybe he couldn’t be. Either way, he woke Shizuo up way too early by hitting him the face with a pillow and prompted him to chase him all the way to school. Shizuo swore that the other laughed all the way there.

Shizuo realized he didn’t have any of his stuff, but decided it didn’t matter. He didn’t bring his books home all that often anyway, so he would probably be fine. Izaya stopped when they came to the locker room to switch their shoes, acting like he hadn’t been running at all, and Shizuo almost crashed right into him.

“Watch where you’re going, Shizu-chan,” he chided like he hadn’t started it in the first place.

Shizuo scoffed because it was too early for him to be coming up with intelligent comebacks, or even reasonable ones, to Izaya’s jibes. There weren’t even that many students around yet, which was good because it meant they hadn’t freaked too many people out, sprinting in the way they had. He moved to begin changing his shoes, deciding to ignore Izaya’s antics for the time being.

When he finished Izaya was waiting for him, leaning against a nearby row of lockers lazily. “Shizu-chan can tie his shoes all by himself. I’m impressed,” he commented.

Shizuo slammed his locker shut and then moved so he could push against Izaya’s shoulder, tilting him off balance. “Shut up. You know, most people are _nicer_ to the people they like instead of working harder than usual to piss them off.”

Izaya giggled, smiling shamelessly as he regained his balance, straightening back up and skipping over to follow Shizuo inside. “You’re right. You aren’t being very nice to me at all. Pushing around your crush—how rude. You haven’t even offered to carry my bag.”

Shizuo clenched his teeth together so he wouldn’t argue back, figuring that was what Izaya wanted. He didn’t know what he’d expected, really. The guy was already arrogant as hell, so telling him he liked him was only adding fuel to the fire. “You have two arms that aren’t broken. Carry it yourself. I’m not going to do everything for you now.”

Izaya exhaled in mock-relief, not missing a beat. “Thank goodness. I wouldn’t want my grades to end up like yours.”

They’d walked into the school proper at that point and Shizuo was about to retort when he realized someone was running toward them. It was Celty. Distracted momentarily from the conversation at hand, he waved at her as she approached. Her eyebrows pulled together when she realized the two of them were together, but it appeared whatever she’d been looking so worried about before was more important than the novelty of the sight before her.

She reached where they stood soon enough, breathing as if she’d run some way.

“Are you okay?” Shizuo asked immediately.

Celty nodded, then shook her head, then got out her phone and started to type something. She held it up for them to observe when she was finished. He could see the edges of Izaya’s lips turn down while he was still fighting to process the information before him.

“Let’s take a look, shall we?” Izaya suggested and took off at a fast clip toward where the main bulletin board was.

Celty and Shizuo followed at his heels. Shizuo had understood what Celty’s phone said in that he knew it was Japanese, and what it meant, but he couldn’t entirely wrap his head around it. They reached their destination though and it hit him.

“Well then,” Izaya muttered, putting his hands on his hips. “What a lovely surprise.”

“What the hell?” Shizuo demanded, almost too incredulous to be angry. “How did this happen?”

Celty shrugged helplessly. [I only heard this morning. I ran over to Yagiri to ask, but all he would say was that the new date was going to “help avoid potential conflicts with the call-backs.”]

_Yeah, conflicts like us auditioning_ , Shizuo thought to himself. Posted for everyone to see was the news that call-backs had been moved from Thursday to Friday. Worse yet, these ones were after school, meaning they would conflict directly with the basketball game that afternoon.

“They’re smarter than I thought,” Izaya mumbled to himself, but he couldn’t avoid Shizuo’s sharp ears.

“What’s that mean?” Shizuo demanded with more aggression than was probably necessary. He simply had no outlet for it, and better him than Celty.

Izaya gave him a smirk that didn’t have much feeling behind it. “I wouldn’t expect naïve little Shizu-chan to know any better. Chances are our opponents found out that we both have activities Friday and asked Yagiri to move the date under some fallacious conflict of their own today. They tried to talk both of us out of it themselves and when that didn’t work, they became more direct. I’m almost impressed.”

Shizuo didn’t like to believe Izaya when he talked like that, like there was only the worst in everybody, but this time he was inclined to make an exception. Still, there was something strange about that sentence and he wasn't about to let it slide. “Both of us? What do you have going on?”

Izaya’s expression got tighter. “Nothing of importance.”

“Nothing of importance my ass.”

“What’s it matter?” Izaya asked flippantly. “If you can’t come, we can’t do it.”

It still mattered to Shizuo, but it was going to have to wait for later because Celty was interrupting then, shoving her phone between the two of them. [So it’s over? There’s no way you two can come?]

Humming idly, Izaya turned away from where he’d been facing Shizuo and glanced back up toward the bulletin board. “Nothing’s impossible. There might still be a way. The period of time we’d need to be at the call-back would be pretty short, overall.”

“What’s up, Shizuo?” a voice beside him asked, startling the group. It turned out to be Kadota, standing nearby, looking mildly concerned. He glanced behind them before anyone could say anything and caught sight of the poster. “Oh, man, that really sucks. It was Thursday, right? Why’d they move it?”

“Hey, Dotachin,” Izaya suddenly piped up, pushing to the front of the group. Shizuo watched Kadota’s brow furrow and wondered when he’d had the unfortunate fate of being nicknamed too. “Would you do us a favor? Or at least do a favor for Shizuo?”

“Depends on what it is,” Kadota said evenly, which definitely a smart answer when it came to Izaya.

“Your game starts about ten minutes before the call-backs start, doesn’t it?”

Kadota glanced up at the paper once more, checking the time. “It does.”

“Would it be possible to push it back at least half an hour?” Izaya asked, his voice turning kind and inviting. “Not that much. It’s not really an official game, is it? So you could just ask the other team, couldn’t you?”

Kadota frowned, but appeared to be pondering it. “I don’t know. I can’t say for sure that they’d go for it. What would I tell them?”

Izaya sighed. “You all are far too honest. I’ll help you think up a good excuse if you need it. Say one of your team members has a test they have to finish after school and they’ll be done as soon as they can.”

Celty chimed in then, a determined expression on her face that hadn’t been there before. [You could at least ask, couldn’t you? Half an hour isn’t very long.]

Kadota rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess. I’ll ask, but I can’t promise anything.” He turned to Shizuo. “If I do this, can you promise, no matter what, that you’ll be at the game when it starts?”

Shizuo nodded immediately. “Yeah.”

Kadota sighed. “I’ll text the team captain. He’s pretty cool, so he’ll probably make an exception if we have a reason.” He smiled wryly. “You guys owe me one.” They really did, Shizuo thought. “But don’t call me Dotachin anymore, alright?” That was directed at Izaya who grinned blindingly.

“Sure,” he said in a way that assured Shizuo there was no way he was going to stop any time soon. He could warn Kadota about that later. He thought he might wait until after all of this had blown over to do it though. “Thank you, Kadota-san.”

“Just Kadota is fine,” he said, shaking his head. “I gotta get going though. I’ll catch you later, okay?”

And with that he was off. “Well, that wasn’t so hard,” Izaya said airily, turning his smile toward Shizuo. “Your friends are proving to be of use after all.”

Shizuo grimaced. “Don’t say it like that. It sounds creepy. This isn’t a free pass to use them however you feel like.”

“I would never be so presumptuous,” Izaya claimed, stretching out the “never” too far for it to be sincere.

Overlooking that, Shizuo felt relieved that the obstacle might be passable after all. “What about you?” he demanded to Izaya.

“I can handle myself,” Izaya said easily, waving him off. After last night Shizuo wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t feel like arguing, especially in front of Celty. “Unless dear Celty here wants to help me. I think she could be of assistance.”

Celty’s expression slid into one of wariness. [What do you mean?]

“It involves Kishitani,” Izaya warned and a complicated expression flitted across Celty’s face.

Shizuo wondered what the hell Izaya had to do with Kishitani. They hardly seemed like they’d be great friends with each other. Kishitani was vexing at the best of times and Izaya didn’t seem like the type to have a lot of patience for people like that.

Celty tapped a few things out on her cellphone then went to delete them, looking like she was fighting some internal battle. Finally, she held it up for them to read once more. […okay. What do you need?]

Around that time Vorona spotted them and came over. Shizuo waved to her as she approached.

“Good morning, Shizuo-senpai,” she said, bowing slightly to him. “You are with Orihara-san, I see. Hoping that you two have made amends with one another.”

“More or less,” Shizuo admitted. “It was stupid, but it’s fine now.”

Vorona nodded, then glanced up at the bulletin board them. She caught on to the issue immediately and her eyes flicked back to Shizuo, softer now with concern.

He held up his hands. “It’s fine. We’re figuring it out. Kadota might be pushing the game tomorrow back a little though.”

“Understandable,” Vorona affirmed. “Senpai is a valuable member of our team. A brief span of time will make no difference in the larger whole of one’s life. A meager thirty minutes would not make up even a full percent of it and thus is negligible.”

Shizuo lost her exact meaning about halfway through, but he thought he got it anyway. “Thanks. It sucks it was moved, but we’re trying to work around it.”

“Excellent,” Vorona said. “All of one’s hobbies should be given equal weight of importance. One will be much more satisfied with themselves and their life that way.”

Shizuo suddenly felt incredibly grateful for the support of his friends. He knew this was strange, what he was doing, but they were standing behind him nonetheless. If nothing else, this whole experience had made him see that. Not that he wasn’t still nervous about messing up, but it wasn’t such a constant thing anymore, he didn’t think. And really, it had all been—perhaps inadvertently—Izaya’s fault. If he hadn’t pried his way into his life the way he had, Shizuo never would have tried something like this, never would have had the chance to learn that lesson.

Shizuo turned toward the other boy momentarily and that thing that had apparently taken up residence in his chest started fluttering around again. He figured that must be what affection felt like.

He shook himself right afterward. God, he was getting sappy, and over _Izaya_ of all people who was probably the person the most likely to make fun of him for it. That figured.

“Fantastic,” he was saying, presumably to Celty. “We’ll talk to him early tomorrow.”

Celty nodded, not looking quite as apprehensive any more. The bell rang above them, interrupting Shizuo’s train of thought concerning the situation.

Celty glanced up in surprise. [I have to get to class! I’ll see you later!] With that, she ran off.

“I must depart as well,” Vorona said, a small smile stretching her lips for a reason he couldn’t identify at the time but was later informed was because the way he’d been looking at Izaya “fits the definition of attraction very succinctly” which was embarrassing as hell. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been doing anything different than usual.

“Okay, see you later,” Shizuo said and watched her walk off.

Once again, it was him and Izaya who slinked over and stood at his side. He met Shizuo’s eyes purposefully. “There’s no need to worry, Shizu-chan. I have everything under control. I know there’s not much excess room in your mind, so don’t fill it with this.”

Shizuo scowled, knocking his foot against Izaya’s leg. “Shut up, asshole.” He began walking toward homeroom without warning. He knew Izaya would follow and catch up soon enough. “Would it kill you to not be unbearable for more than five seconds?”

“Of course not,” Izaya said. “I just thought that since you _like_ me and all, I should play hard to get. If I started being nice to you all the time, it wouldn’t be fair. You have to woo me first.”

Shizuo rolled his eyes. The only game Izaya knew how to play was “hard to get _away from_ ,” which ordinarily wouldn’t be a bad thing, except for the fact that Shizuo apparently had the worst taste known to man. That fact was reinforced when Izaya kept talking. They were almost to the door at that point and he waited until they’d stepped in to actually make his statement.

“Besides, you didn’t seem to find me so unbearable last night.” The suggestion was heavy in his voice and in the way he smirked at Shizuo as he skipped off to his seat.

Shizuo couldn’t wait until homeroom was over so he could kick his smug ass for real this time.

*

The day went by quickly. Izaya managed to dodge Shizuo after homeroom—he’d see him later, anyway, so they could play then—and didn’t make much concentrated effort to see him for the rest of the day. He was too much of a distraction, Izaya had decided. His attention tended to settle in when Shizuo was around and that wasn’t helpful when he had other things to do. Avoiding Shizuo yesterday also meant that he’d been avoiding almost everyone else. The boy had a nose like a bloodhound so remaining evasive within a small area wasn’t as easy as he might have made it seem.

He figured Shizuo’s little basketball dilemma would be solved easily enough. Dotachin seemed to like Shizuo a great deal and seemed like the sort of guy to make an honest effort at something when he said it would. The bigger problem would be on his own shoulders, but even then it hadn’t been too difficult to string together a small plan to avoid the road bump. It appeared that even Kujiragi and Kuronuma’s best efforts to keep them from auditioning would go to waste. Such a pity.

Izaya knew they were relying on many other people to help them around the problem, and that it would have been difficult to do if they’d been on their own, but that was what networking was for, and Shizuo, in spite of himself, with his honest, heart-on-his-sleeve demeanor had done an impressive job of surrounding himself with useful assets. He wouldn’t probably see it that way, but that hardly mattered. To Izaya, they were means to an end, and as long as none of them try to corner Shizuo in an empty classroom, he didn’t think he’d take much issue with any of them.

AcDec practice could have been worse, he supposed. The team really did seem to be improving which truly was the greatest miracle that had occurred recently. Kishitani-sensei was disgustingly proud and practically bouncing off the walls in excitement. Shinra wasn’t much better and kept trying to get too close to Izaya to say irritatingly optimistic things to him. Still, Izaya supposed it would be better to bid farewell to this group when they were stupidly happy for some silly, insignificant reason than when they were silent and dull at best.

For the first time in two days, Shizuo and he practiced together. In a way, Kujiragi had done them a favor by granting them an extra day of rehearsal. He made sure to remember to thank her for that later. It felt different now. Shizuo didn’t shy away from him as much as he had been and he was more confident in his voice and movements overall. And watching him, Izaya gained a brief bit of insight to the fact that he really couldn’t care less about what happened tomorrow. Petty revenge would never be able to equal in value what he’d already gained.

It was nothing he needed to say out loud, he didn’t think, or really think about much. The awareness of it was enough for the time being.

[That was the best one yet!] Celty announced, eagerly thrusting her phone at them when they finished up their final run-through.

Shizuo chuckled, not meeting his friend’s eyes. Izaya wished it wasn’t so endearing that the other boy could remain so humble at all times, even as his confidence in a task grew. “Hopefully it’ll be enough.”

[You’ll really keep the part then, if you get it?] Celty asked, a little less quickly than her previous inquiry and Shizuo’s face scrunched up in thought. Izaya observed silently, interested to know the answer to that question himself. Better she ask than him.

“I think so,” Shizuo finally said. “I should at least try it out first before I make any permanent decisions.”

Celty beamed and Izaya felt something in his chest expand, making him feel giddy. Without thinking about it, he began to applaud, drawing the eyes of the other two immediately. “Wow,” he announced, the mocking words slipping easily off his tongue now that he didn’t mean them, “Shizu-chan has finally learned to use his brain! After being at such a disadvantage, too!”

Celty’s face slipped into worry as she glanced over at Shizuo, probably wondering what he would do next. That made two of them.

All he did ultimately was hit Izaya over the head with his sheet music, mussing up his hair in the process. “Don’t be rude,” he muttered, turning to begin helping Celty clean up. Izaya was still grinning as they set off for home, having bid farewell to Celty inside.

They walked in silence for some time before, Shizuo glanced over and down at him and frowned. “Why are you so happy all of a sudden?”

“No reason,” Izaya said, but let his mouth continue to stretch open nonetheless. “Shizu-chan is still all sweaty.” He let his eyes trace along the way the sun glinted off the shine on Shizuo’s skin. His blond hair and darker skin in the light cast him in shades of gold and it was difficult to look away, so Izaya didn’t bother to try.

Shizuo huffed, pulling his arms in closer to himself. “Sorry, it’s hot out and I was running around during practice.”

“It’s gross,” Izaya commented, making sure his tone was saccharine enough to offset the insult.

Shizuo glared at him. “It’s not like I want to be. No one said you had to walk so close to me if it’s _offending_ you.”

Izaya hummed, pleased with Shizuo’s miffed tone, and changed the subject. “What did Kadota say?”

The other boy frowned, confusion clear on his face. It took him a few moments to understand the shift in topic, and Izaya took that time to realize that even Shizuo’s eyes looked goldish in the right light. _How unfair_. “He said it was fine,” Shizuo piped up, not seeming to notice Izaya’s gaze resting on him. “The other team’s captain—Tom, I think his name was?—was really cool about it and even offered to push it back an hour instead.”

“Great,” Izaya said. “That was simple.”

But Shizuo was frowning and thinking again and that was never good. “Hey, but what about you? You never answered me before. What are you even doing that can’t be missed on Friday?”

Izaya looked away then, but he could still feel Shizuo’s gaze on him. He supposed it didn’t really matter. Shizuo probably wouldn’t even believe him. “I have a competition myself.”

“…Seriously? For what?”

“Academic Decathlon,” Izaya drawled, as if it were obvious.

Shizuo blinked incredulously at him and Izaya had to choke back a laugh. “Since when do you do Academic Decathlon?” he demanded, suspicion coloring his tone blatantly.

“I joined quite a while ago,” Izaya pointed out. “Don’t you know anything, Shizu-chan? I thought you said you liked me and you don’t even know what clubs I’m in.” He at least thought Shizuo might have heard through Celty from Shinra, but that apparently wasn’t the case. Either that or he hadn’t been paying much attention when it was mentioned.

Shizuo colored, but it didn’t take him long to retort. “Like you ever tell me anything. I didn’t know you were interested in stuff like that.” He was coming off as offended somewhat and it was almost cute, or at least amusing.

_I’m not_. “I made an exception.”

Shizuo’s eyes narrowed. “Does it have to do with why you’re doing this musical thing in the first place?”

For someone so generally oblivious, Shizuo was frighteningly perceptive at times. “What makes you think that?”

“Because you’re being evasive about it.”

Izaya sighed, turned to look down at the sidewalk, watching their feet move together. He made a conscious effort to switch his own rhythm so it wouldn’t match Shizuo’s so exactly. “Shizu-chan’s so suspicious all the time.”

“I’m not suspicious,” Shizuo declared, and sounded like he meant it. “I’d _like_ to know more about you, Izaya, but you don’t tell me anything. This is me asking.”

That strange sort of warm anxiety that Izaya felt when Shizuo was around was back again. Why couldn’t he just let it go? And maybe he would, Izaya thought, recalculating. Shizuo might think it was too ridiculous, might be naïve enough to not believe him, even if he flaunted more blatantly the parts of himself he didn’t quite understand how Shizuo had reconciled with in the midst of this “liking” business as they weren’t inherently _likable_ and weren’t meant to be. No one was supposed to _like_ getting pricked by a thorn, regardless of how nice the flower itself might be to look at.

“Very well,” Izaya said and Shizuo looked at him so much like an expectant puppy that he had to pause to cough out a laugh. “When I arrived at Raijin, Kujiragi noticed that I was close to you, or at least knew you in a way she didn’t, and was jealous because of her attraction to you which she flaunts whenever possible. In an effort to inform herself about her new supposed-rival, she and Kuronuma looked me up and managed to find out that I used to be quite the academic champion back when I was young and naïve enough to care about trying to impress anyone.

“From there they told Shinra about it and convinced him I wanted to join his little club. He, of course, believed them. While I declined at first, he ended up stumbling upon one of my side projects Dotachin mentioned to you the other day, but didn’t share the common-sense to shut up about it and instead threatened to tattle on me to his daddy if I didn’t join up. Since business is booming and I didn’t feel like shutting down so quickly, I agreed. Meanwhile, I was thinking up ways to get back at Kujiragi for the little stunt she pulled which had landed me in such a situation in the first place, and decided ripping the theatre program and with it all her assumed authority out from under her would be the best route to take.

“And now here we are,” Izaya said, trailing off as if he’d only been discussing weekend plans. “So you see, Shizu-chan, it was a scheme all along. I planned it out entirely.” Well, not entirely. There were several anomalies that Izaya hadn’t expected which had cropped up along the way, but Shizuo didn’t need to know that, especially when he was one of them. “You’ve caught me red-handed. How does it feel to know you were right?”

Shizuo stared at him for a few long moments after he’d finished speaking, and the turning of the cogs in his brain were practically visible. Izaya felt strange, tense and giddy, after being so honest. It was so odd, putting the events of the last few weeks out in the open in so many words. He wondered how Shizuo would like a taste of his own medicine, that being unwavering honesty. Well, with a few omissions. Shizuo didn’t really need to know about the other half of the deal he’d struck up with Shinra, nor did he need to know Izaya’s other, more personal, reasons for trying to get back at Kujiragi. Those had been bared quite enough already the previous night in Izaya's opinion.

Finally, Shizuo shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

Izaya let out another breathless laugh to try to release some of the tightness in his chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t have to come up with some ridiculous story just because you’re embarrassed about liking something,” Shizuo announced, frowning almost patronizingly at Izaya. “I don’t care if you want to do AcDec. Pretending to think school is stupid if you like it doesn’t make any sense.”

Izaya was caught-off guard momentarily before he broke out into that kind of hysterical laughter that was impossible to stop once it had started. He laughed so hard that his stomach started to hurt and his eyes teared up. Shizuo was looking at him like he was insane, and maybe he was. He was pondering telling the truth more often if that was the result it got him, after all. Yes, that unbelievable naïveté of Shizuo’s was going to get him hurt someday, but Izaya had more or less decided that when that happened he was going to make sure that whoever had done the hurting was going to meet with a much more unpleasant fate, courtesy of Izaya Orihara himself.

Eventually he caught his breath enough to manage a brief, “I’m sorry. I was only try to impress you, Shizuo-san, I won’t do it again.”

Shizuo’s whole face curved down and he shoved at Izaya’s shoulder, hard. “Quit it! You’re such a jackass.”

Izaya regained his composure then, and caught Shizuo’s eyes with his own. “Ne, Shizu-chan.” They’d stopped walking at some point, pulled off to the side so people could walk around them, shooting them odd glances which they ignored.

“What.” It wasn’t a question, rather a terse statement. He could feel the heat coming off of Shizuo as he seethed in irritation.

“I like you.”

Shizuo’s eyes went comically wide and he reached out to start swatting at him without any apparent goal in mind. Izaya dodged his hands until Shizuo gave up. Emotion after emotion had flickered across his face under Izaya’s amused gaze, but eventually he settled on exasperation. “ _Izaya_.” He shuffled closer, humoring Shizuo, but not too close. They were still in public, after all.

“Wasn’t that more fun?” he asked.

Shizuo forced his mouth into a scowl, but there was something relieved and something elated in his eyes that he couldn’t hide, particularly with the way the sun was still lighting them up. “ _No_ ,” he insisted emphatically. “It wasn’t.”

Izaya suddenly wished they were back at his house already. This would be easier there. Instead, he asked, “Does Shizu-chan want to punch me or kiss me more right now?”

Shizuo snorted, but his lips turned up into a wry smile and Izaya felt his heart rate kick up abruptly in response because there was something predatory in Shizuo’s eyes, but that hardly answered his question. “You like surprises, right? You’ll find out when we get to your house.”

If Izaya hadn’t been giving this whole honesty thing a try, he probably would have claimed that the heat that rushed through him was because of the sun that was continuing to beat down from above. As it was, he was glad to know his sisters wouldn’t be home from their play date for a few more hours that day.

*

“Are you feeling nervous?” Vorona asked Shizuo the next day. It was pretty open-ended question, all things considered.

The day might as well not have existed considering how quickly it went by. Before he knew it, it was time for lunch. He usually ate with Celty, but she’d told him ahead of time that she would be busy, so he’d sought out Vorona. She ate with her other friends most of the time when they didn't have practice, but she’d come to join Shizuo when she spotted him automatically.

“About what?” Shizuo asked.

Vorona nodded. “I apologize. My question was not specific, but I realize now that Senpai has many things that he may be nervous about.”

Shizuo continued to eat his lunch, not wanting to think about it.

“I am sure you will do well,” Vorona said abruptly. “Team captain Tom granted us permission to delay today’s match so there will be no conflict. Senpai will be able to complete both his activities with ease, I am sure of it.”

The buzzing anxiety in Shizuo’s chest quieted a little at the confidence in her voice and he gave his friend a small smile. “Thanks, Vorona. I think…that I’m ready. I wasn’t a couple days ago, but I am now.”

Vorona smiled in return. “I am glad. We will be there to support you as well, which will be helpful, I believe.”

Shizuo frowned, confused. “What do you mean?”

“The team elected to come and watch your performance,” Vorona explained, then caught sight of Shizuo’s face. “Won’t support from friends be valuable in such a situation?”

“I guess.” More likely it would make him more nervous knowing his friends would be watching him. He swallowed hard, trying to focus back on eating and the fact that they thought they were doing the right thing. He should be appreciative, instead of acting like a jerk. “You shouldn’t have to sit through if you don’t want to.”

“On the contrary, I am rather interested in hearing Senpai’s singing voice.” Vorona’s voice was taking on that same curious bend that it did whenever she was explaining to him about some new theory she’d read about in a book that he’d probably never understand, but listened to anyway because it was nice to hear her so excited.

It made him feel a bit better, even if it didn’t chase his nerves away entirely. “Don’t get your hopes up too high.”

“Impossible,” Vorona responded automatically. “As a rule, I do not apply objective reasoning to subjective circumstances. That would be contradictory.”

Shizuo chuckled. Maybe having her in the audience wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Tom appears! Better late than never, right? (*＾∀ﾟ)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at last, the final chapter, the big finale. Now, I know a lot of people when first clicking on this were concerned about it being really cheesy etc., and because of that I feel the need to warn you that the ending of this is pretty dang sappy. I hope you can understand, since this is not only an AU of a Disney movie, but a /musical/ Disney movie, and forgive me for it. That being said, you've been warned... ovu)/
> 
> While I'm here, I'd like to plug once more the FAQ page I created for this story: http://aliceecrivain.tumblr.com/dsm-faq just in case anyone wants to take a peek at it~
> 
> One more thing before we get into it: I'd like to say one last big thank you to everyone who's given a story with such a ridiculous premise a chance and read this far, particularly if you've taken the time to leave kudos/a comment. It really means a lot to me! I truly hope that you've enjoyed the story! (*^ω^*)✧

The time had finally come. It was almost anti-climactic, the way it happened. All this anticipation and it rolled around like any other time, any other hour. The school day ended and most of the other students moved on, headed toward their own clubs or toward home, none the wiser about the event that had the possibility of changing everything for good. Shizuo headed toward the auditorium which, in and of itself, wasn’t that strange anymore. It was just another day for most people and Shizuo tried to picture it that way himself in order to keep calm even as his nerves attempted to eat him alive. He forced himself to walk the right direction, to enter the theatre, and sit down near the back. No running away this time.

There weren’t that many people in the theatre, really. Yagiri was already there, up on stage with Celty who waved when she spotted him, giving him a thumbs up. Kujiragi and Kuronuma must have been backstage getting ready. They were up first. There were a few other theatre kids sitting around but only the pair’s auditions had required call-backs. Izaya was nowhere to be found, but Shizuo had been assured he’d be there. (Not that that was doing much to calm him down, considering Izaya’s track record for telling the truth.) Now all he had to do was trust him, which was a little terrifying, if necessary.

He sat in the cool of the theatre, looking up at the stage and focused on his breathing. He was going to go up there, and do it, and then it was going to be over. That was it. No need to make it more complicated than it was.

True to their word, the Wildcats began filing into the theatre soon after him, sitting close by and chattering amongst themselves. Weirdly, soon after, the team they were supposed to be playing against showed up as well. The captain, presumably, came right over to shake hands with Kadota.

Kadota turned to Shizuo. “Sorry, but they were interested, so I thought I’d let them know what was going on.”

“It’s…fine,” Shizuo said. Some strangers didn’t really bother him that much, although he was surprised Kadota had told the truth to this guy.

The captain turned to him. “You’re Shizuo then? I’m Tom Tanaka.” He extended his hand which Shizuo shook. The guy had a friendly face and didn’t seem ready to start laughing at him over this any time soon, which was a good start. “Sorry to barge in, but I thought it’d be stupid to sit around outside for an hour when we could be in here instead.”

Shizuo decided he liked Tom. The new boy sat near Vorona and him and the three of them made friendly conversation while they waited for the bell to ring and indicate the beginning of the auditions. It came sooner than expected, and Shizuo found himself grateful to the captain for distracting him so effortlessly. Vorona seemed to like him as well, which was usually a good sign. Between the two of them, they were pretty picky with whom they associated.

Shizuo took a moment to glance around before the lights were dimmed, but still didn’t see Izaya anywhere. He tried to shove down his disappointment and worry as Kujiragi and Kuronuma took the stage. He hadn’t actually seen them perform last time and hadn’t paid attention before now to any of the school productions so he was somewhat interested to watch.

Their act was good, pretty flashy for his taste though. They could sing and dance well, in Shizuo’s opinion at least. He had no real ear for the thing. He saw now why he’d had to get glitter down for Celty since both of them were covered in it. They clearly knew what they were doing, and Shizuo began to wonder if he and Izaya actually even had a chance. By the end of the act though, he’d decided it didn’t matter much. They’d give it their all and if it wasn’t enough, he thought Celty would probably understand.

Still, he was surprised to find something in himself that _wanted_ to win. It was strange, but it was definitely there.

He shook himself out of his thoughts when he heard their names being called as the applause for the other pair started to die down. Vorona gave him a pat on his shoulder and the other team members said encouraging things to him that he didn’t really hear as he stood up and started walking numbly toward the front of the room. Yagiri turned and caught sight of him, looking a bit incredulous he’d shown up. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him, but kept moving forward.

“Where’s Orihara?” Yagiri asked, and Shizuo thought he’d taken the words right out of his mouth. The reality of the situation was finally settling in upon him and he was feeling pretty dazed and lost up there alone.

“He’ll be here,” Shizuo heard himself saying.

Yagiri sighed. “I thought we had a talk about timeliness last time. I can’t keep making exceptions. If he’s not here—”

“You weren’t thinking of starting without me, were you?” The familiar voice came from across the auditorium. Shizuo turned, his head snapping up embarrassingly quick and there was Izaya, looking out of breath and wearing a lab coat of all things, stepping into the space, unshakable and confident as ever, tailed by Kishitani who immediately started trying to catch Celty’s attention, ignoring whatever else was going on.

Yagiri sighed again and marked something down on his clipboard, sinking back down into his chair. “Very well. Let’s do this, shall we?”

Relief washed over Shizuo as Izaya approached, his focus narrowing so it was the other boy alone, turning the audience and space around them into a meaningless blur. There was a big difference between being alone up there and having someone to stand by, particularly when that person was smiling the way Izaya was, like they were back standing up against the tree in his front yard, only the two of them. He followed him onto the stage, and between his presence and Celty’s, Shizuo felt much more grounded, and oddly enough, as he claimed before to Vorona, ready.

*

Izaya hadn’t meant to be late—although it had made for good dramatic effect—, but things hadn’t gone quite as planned on his end. Getting Shinra to cooperate had been enough trouble in the first place: he’d had to tap into his strange obsession with Celty, getting her to convince him that the whole thing had to do with “true love.” (Which was hilarious when he thought back on it, but in the moment it had been vexing at best.) She’d done a commendable job with pulling it off, really. He was rather impressed.

[Don’t you care about true love, Shinra?] she’d asked when he’d shied away from their initial suggestion and Shinra’s face lit up so quickly it’d been like turning on a light. The two of them had cornered him earlier that day during lunch, but that had been, by far, the easiest part of the plan.

“Of course I do!” he’d claimed, looking hurt she’d even suggest that he didn’t.

“Then couldn’t you do us this little favor?” Izaya had piped up. “It’s _very_ important to Celty.”

Celty nodded on cue.

Shinra had sighed, looking like he was making some noble sacrifice as he finally agreed to help them. Izaya had the sneaking suspicion that, as weird as Shinra was, Celty actually didn’t mind him all that much considering the smile she’d granted him when he did.

The plan was to allow Izaya to go up to the board first during the competition, complete his question, and then create a diversion in the lab that would allow him to run off to the auditorium briefly. Shinra had made him promise to return afterwards several times in a manner that would have been hilariously grave if hadn’t been so obnoxious about it. Izaya didn’t know exactly what Shinra planned to do, but he hadn’t wanted to ask, knowing he’d only have his time wasted on an over-long, boring-as-tar response if he did.

Everything had started off well. The competition commenced after some small ceremony that had taken too long for its own good and Izaya had gone up to the board to begin the problem. It wasn’t difficult and he finished quickly, before the other team. They made them hit some buzzer to stop the timer when they finished which was mildly humiliating, but he didn’t have time to quibble over it. The judge walked over to his board and began to examine it and he noticed Shinra slip off meanwhile, off deeper into the room, dropping down out of sight behind a lab counter.

Soon enough the judge checked him off, marking down the point and the next student was sent up to the board. Izaya returned to his seat, pasting on a smile for the other members of the team who saw it fit to rain their well-wishes upon him like he’d just solved world hunger. And then nothing happened.

The next pair began their own problem, almost finishing it, and still there was nothing. Izaya felt anxiety knot in his chest and he was about to stand up and see what the hell was going on back there himself when there had been an abrupt bang that shook the whole classroom. Oddly colored smoke began rising to the ceiling and filling the room. Everyone jumped and looked around in confusion. Kishitani-sensei was more disgruntled than usual even. Soon though he and the judges stood and began to usher everyone out of the room, including the small crowd of people—those unfortunate souls—who had actually gathered to _watch_ the thing.

Izaya took off like a shot in the midst of the confusion, not bothering to even strip off his stupidly cliché lab coat. After a few moments he heard footsteps following after him and prepared to up his speed if necessary, but he found it was only Shinra.

“How long does it take to make something blow up?” he demanded, breathless from running.

“Well, actually, the reaction I used takes a bit of time to begin because—” Shinra began obliviously.

“Never mind,” Izaya snapped and Shinra had the mind to actually shut up. “We’ll talk later.” They were approaching the auditorium by then. Izaya pushed open the doors without hesitation and immediately spotted Shizuo, standing alone and looking unsure of himself.

Well, they couldn’t have that now could they?

After dealing with Yagiri who looked very disappointed in his attendance, they approached the stage together. It seemed Shizuo’s whole team and more had shown up. He wondered if that would make Shizuo nervous, but the other boy’s eyes were fixed firmly on him alone which was as exhilarating as it always was.

Izaya smiled and it wasn’t just for show. “Ready?”

It took Shizuo a moment, but he nodded. The audience seemed to fade away entirely. They’d never really mattered anyway. Izaya kept his eyes on Shizuo.

“Don’t worry, Shizu-chan,” Izaya whispered. “If you get scared, you can look at me.” As if he wasn’t already.

He scoffed at Izaya, but muttered, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

But Shizuo didn’t look scared anymore. He looked incredibly sure of himself and confident in a way that made Izaya want to get closer to him than probably would be considered school-appropriate. Shizuo performed that way too, and his eyes never did leave Izaya after he’d nodded for Celty to start. Izaya could tell the difference in the performance immediately. They’d never sounded better.

It went by incredibly fast, their final notes dying away before Izaya even realized what had happened. He was yanked back unexpectedly into reality when he heard applause. There weren’t that many people in the auditorium, but they were certainly making a lot of noise. Shizuo was blinking too, glancing over as if he’d only just remembered there were other people in the room. Celty joined in, her expression one of honest joy. Izaya felt his chest swell like something akin to pride, and the feeling only intensified when Shizuo turned back to him smiling. Izaya didn’t bother to stop himself from mirroring his partner’s expression, disregarding who might see. Even he could afford an honest smile now and again, on special occasions. Watching how it made Shizuo’s grin grow even larger when he saw was recompense enough.

Because Izaya knew, deep down, that, somewhere in the middle of all this, his motives had shifted and beating out Kujiragi held little meaning to him anymore. How could it when he’d already won?

*

Yagiri told them, after Kadota had wrangled in Walker and Erika who’d been applauding a little too exuberantly for a little too long, that the results would be posted Monday. It was really over. They had done it. Shizuo felt an immense weight lifted off his chest, leaving him feeling light-headed and like his feet might not be even touching the ground anymore.

Then he remembered he still had a game to play and Izaya had a competition to get back to. Izaya was one step ahead of him, per usual, moving away in response to Shinra’s over-exaggerated motions that he come back with him. “I’ll see you later, Shizu-chan,” he said and somehow managed to make it sound suggestive while he was at it. He was gone before Shizuo could react much, the way he’d been smiling back at him a few moments earlier still burning bright in his mind.

[You guys were great!!] Celty had approached him by then.

“You too,” he said, shaking himself. He couldn’t believe that had just happened.

Celty blushed modestly. [I guess now we wait, huh? I know you have to run, but text me this weekend, okay?]

Shizuo nodded and started off down the stage to where his team was waiting mechanically.

“Wow, Shizuo, that was so amazing!” Erika exclaimed immediately upon his approach. “And the way you and Izayan were looking at each other was _so hot_. Are you sure there’s nothing going on between you two—” Walker managed to get his arms around her then, pressing a hand over her mouth and laughing unselfconsciously as he drowned out her words.

“It was just like in an idol anime!” he announced which wasn’t really better.

Shizuo tried to force the heat he felt from reaching his face. He looked down, not able to meet the eyes of everyone who was talking at him at once. His ability to get over everyone looking at him had completely dissolved, leaving him to feel crowded and overwhelmed by the sudden attention.

“Guys,” Kadota’s voice broke through the commotion. “Give him some space.”

They did and Shizuo felt better. “Thanks,” he said, managing to look up at Kadota who smiled.

“No problem. You two did sound good, at least to me. I have no ear for that kind of thing, but still. But hey, we have a game to play, right? Let’s head outside before Yagiri gets on our asses about making too much noise in the auditorium.”

Most people followed him out, the topic of their conversation switching over to the game ahead. Tom stopped by to offer him some other well-meaning compliment as he went which Shizuo heard but didn’t really process. Soon only he and Vorona remained. Vorona began walking without saying much and he followed after her. So much had happened in such a short amount of time that he hardly knew how to wrap his head around all of it.

“Would Senpai like to hear my subjective opinion on his performance?” she asked, her voice quiet in spite of the chatter among all the players up ahead of them. They had exited the auditorium and were headed outside.

Shizuo laughed, clenching his hands into fists so they would stop shaking already. “Sure.”

“I enjoyed your performance a great deal,” she declared, “and anticipate hearing more.”

“Thanks,” Shizuo said, doing his best to focus in on the conversation.

Vorona nodded. “It was Izaya Orihara who advised you try this, was it not?”

Shizuo nodded.

“I see,” she said. “I believe I understand better now why Senpai is attracted to him.”

Shizuo, who’d still been working through the daze he’d been in, the clapping from before continuing to ring in his ears, snapped out of it then, the disbelief at his friend’s statement acting like the shock of cold water on a hot day. “What do you mean?”

Vorona paused to push a door open, continuing to lead them outside, before she spoke. “Simply that you appeared nervous until he was present in the room, but while he was there, your anxiety was no longer visible.” Vorona nodded. “I do not comprehend it beyond that yet, but I am willing to continue my attempts.”

Now that they were outside, the lingering heat of the day pressed in upon them, but the fresh air helped to clear Shizuo’s mind further. The day wasn’t over yet. He’d been searching for something to say, wondering how to react, and ended up settling on simple laughter, catching and holding Vorona’s gaze. “There’s probably no point to that,” Shizuo admitted, “since I don’t really get it either.”

Vorona seemed confused, but didn’t press further for the time being. It didn’t matter: she’d voiced her support as best she could and Shizuo was grateful for it as always. And right now, they had a game to play and the other members of the Wildcats were already circling up to start pre-game drills. The two jogged over to join them and the game began soon after.

Tom’s team was much better than the others, and played very well. It was clear he was a good coach, just like Kadota. In the end, though, Shizuo’s team pulled ahead and managed to take the win. All members played hard and were as focused as they could be, and they worked better together than they ever had before. All their practicing was finally paying off.

After everyone shook hands and the other team departed, Shizuo making a note to maybe try to get Tom’s phone number off of Kadota later, Erika dragged everyone back into another group circle to do that thing she liked where they all put their hands in and shouted their team name. Normally it annoyed Shizuo, but it didn’t bother him too much that day. The camaraderie he felt surrounded by his friends and teammates had never been stronger. They didn’t treat him any differently after seeing him up on stage. All that mattered to them was that he’d played hard, like everyone else.

As Kadota explained to them what would happen next concerning the tournament and practices next week, Shizuo felt oddly peaceful. A cool breeze was pushing out some of the worst of the day’s heat and he hadn’t felt so comfortable in a long time. He wished it could last forever.

But soon it was time to head home. Time never stopped pushing forward, and maybe he didn’t really mind that so much. He thought he wouldn’t be able to treasure moments like these so much if they became commonplace. He’d never try anything new, never meet any new people. Hell, he’d probably get bored after a while. He decided maybe some change wasn’t so bad after all.

“I hope you have an enjoyable weekend,” Vorona said, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, having paused before heading on home to speak to him. “Perhaps we could take some time to practice together as well.”

“Good idea,” Shizuo said, nodding. “Text me if you want. I’ll be free.”

They bid each other goodbye and then Shizuo was alone. He realized it had been a while since he’d had a day where he hadn’t seen Izaya immediately after practice, either for rehearsal or because the other had been hanging around creepily, waiting for him to finish. But now the court was empty aside from him. Most other students had already headed home or were on the fields further out in the courtyard, their voices only reaching him distantly and sporadically.

He took a deep breath and headed into the school to go looking for him. Maybe it was his turn to show up unannounced.

On his way inside he ran into Celty walking along with, surprisingly, Kishitani of all people.

“Hey, Heiwajima-kun!” Kishitani called, waving wildly at him.

Celty’s head jerked up from where she’d been texting something to Shinra and she waved as well, taking a step that was probably supposed to be inconspicuous—but really wasn’t—away from Kishitani. She typed something quickly and showed it to him when he got close enough to read it.

[How’d the game go?!]

Shizuo decided, for Celty’s sake, he’d ignore how close the two had been standing for the time being. It wasn’t really his business if she didn’t want to talk about it. She’d given him space when he’d needed it, and he could certainly return the favor. It wasn’t exactly like he could talk when it came to bad taste in dates anyway. “Good,” he replied. “We won.”

[That’s great!!!] Celty smiled widely at him.

“Congratulations!” Kishitani added. “I can’t say as much for our team, unfortunately, but we did much better than last year! It was in big part thanks to Orihara-kun.” Shizuo didn’t like the way Kishitani was smiling at him knowingly. If Celty started actually dating the guy—he didn’t quite know how that had happened, but he’d been pretty caught up in his own shit recently. He’d need to sit down and actually let her talk for a while soon. It’d actually be something of a relief to get caught up in her problems for a while, he suspected—he’d have to see if she could work on getting him to tone it down.

“Yeah?” Shizuo said, not bothering to hide the incredulity in his tone. He still couldn’t imagine Izaya as part of any team, even after working with him for a couple of weeks in a row on the audition. He was fiercely independent at the best of times, for better or worse, but Shizuo didn’t mind. In fact, if he was being honest, there was something he found strangely attractive about it, not that he’d ever tell Izaya that.

“Well,” Shinra said thoughtfully. “I told him if he came to this competition and actually participated this week in AcDec I would let him off and not tell my dad about that gambling ring he’s running. Originally, it was only going to be if we won, but he did a pretty good job, and I was in such a good mood after my dear Celty agreed to go on a date with me this weekend that I said it was fine for him to leave anyway!”

Celty flushed bright red immediately and reached over to jab Kishitani in the side. Shizuo was still trying to work through everything Kishitani had said, but it was so comical that he had to choke back a laugh. She typed something quicker than he’d ever seen her type before and shoved her phone into Kishitani’s face, almost smashing his nose down in the process.

Kishitani wheezed from the punch but managed a laugh nonetheless. “Okay, Celty, whatever you want.”

Celty rolled her eyes and went to type something further, offering it to Shizuo with much less force. [He meant as **_FRIENDS_**.] 

Shizuo waved a hand at her. “I get it.” He was too busy realizing that everything Izaya had said to him yesterday might have actually been true, which was sort of a startling revelation, to fuss much over it. It had seemed ridiculous at the time, but everything Kishitani had said was fitting and Shizuo was having a minor moment of shock as a result. “Is…he still upstairs?”

“Last time I checked,” Kishitani responded, straightening up again, having recovered from Celty’s attack.

Shizuo nodded. “I’ll probably head up there then.”

[I’ll text you this weekend if I hear anything early about the call-backs!] Celty told him, eager.

He couldn’t help but offer a small smile in return, seeing his friend so excited, as he turned to go. “Alright,” Shizuo said. “I’ll see you guys later.”

They parted ways then. When Shizuo glanced over his shoulder, he noticed Celty stepping back closer to Kishitani as they walked. He’d probably have to start calling him Shinra soon. He supposed he didn’t mind. If she was happy, he would be fine with it. Besides, the guy was more of a twig than Izaya so teaching him a lesson if he overstepped his boundaries wouldn’t be hard.

As Shizuo climbed the stairs, he realized he didn’t even care if Izaya’s crazy story from the day before had been true. He was probably going to have to get used to that shit if he was going to be with Izaya. At least maybe he could make it so he toned it down a bit. Then again, this _was_ Izaya he was talking about, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t at least try. He had to take responsibility somehow.

When he reached the second floor of the school he heard conversational voices coming from a nearby classroom and headed that direction. To his surprise, Kuronuma was outside the door, looking annoyed, slumped against the wall. He frowned deeper when he caught sight of Shizuo, but straightened up.

“Hey,” he said shortly.

“Oh, hey,” Shizuo greeted him automatically, not remembering if he’d ever spoken to the kid directly before. The only times he ever saw him were when Kujiragi was around, so it was unlikely. 

“Did you hear yet?” he asked, his words sharp.

Shizuo frowned, not liking the guy’s attitude. “About what?”

“Yagiri pretty much already made his decision,” Kuronuma grumbled. “You guys are in.” Shizuo blinked at him, dumbstruck by the abrupt announcement. “Don’t get too cocky though. There’s always next year. We’ll beat you guys out for sure.”

The kid turned and strode away then, off down the hall, leaving Shizuo to process what he’d said. They’d actually done it. Other than surprised, since he hadn’t been expecting to hear anything until Monday, Shizuo didn’t know how to feel. All he knew at the moment was that he couldn’t wait to tell Celty that she’d get to put on the play she’d written after all. He thought he might wait until he could see her in person, if only to see the expression on her face. The anticipation of his friend’s joy made Shizuo feel far more excited than after simply hearing they’d gotten the parts had as it’d been for her that he’d done all this in the first place, at least originally.

For now, though, there were still voices coming from the room he needed to investigate.

It turned out to be Izaya and Kujiragi, talking seemingly civilly which was almost more shocking than Kuronuma’s news had been. They both glanced up when Shizuo stepped inside. Izaya seemed on guard, but also didn’t look like he was about to do something that might get him in trouble to Kujiragi. Kujiragi looked how she normally did, her expression relatively neutral.

“Hello, Heiwajima-kun,” she greeted him. “We were just finishing up. I came to wish Orihara-kun congratulations on your victory and on a game well-played.” She extended her hand to him and he shook it awkwardly. She didn’t hold on too long and picked up her things immediately after they let go. “You earned the parts fairly, and I intend to respect Yagiri-sensei’s decision. I look forward to working with you during rehearsals. We will be your understudies for the musical, so we’ll be seeing more of each other.” From where he was standing, he could see Izaya’s expression darken slightly at the words, but when Kujiragi turned back to him, she didn’t comment on it. “We will speak further at a later date.”

“Of course,” Izaya said smoothly, his lips curving up automatically. “Bye-bye Kujiragi-chan.”

And then she was gone, sparing neither of them a backwards glance even as both of them watched her exit. Shizuo turned to Izaya immediately afterward, frowning. “What was that about?”

Izaya’s expression relaxed some when his eyes rested on Shizuo and it was something of a relief to Shizuo too. Any tension that had been crowding the room had dissipated already. “It was exactly as she said,” he explained, hopping off the desk he’d been sitting on top of to approach Shizuo. Shizuo stayed where he was, not bothering to resist their increasing proximity. “The two of them hung around after the call-backs, waiting for Yagiri to decide and, well, you know now that he did. She came to wish us well after our win, and she and I chatted a little about business afterward, but that’s nothing you need to worry about.”

Shizuo suspected that it was, that there was some shady “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” crap going on, but he wasn’t in the mood to push too hard at the moment. “We actually did it then.”

Izaya’s eyes were fire in the fading light of the day. “It certainly seems that way.” He was close enough for Shizuo to reach out and touch, so he did, resting his hands on Izaya’s waist, causing the other boy to make a small pleased sound, flicking his eyes down to look before he met Shizuo’s eyes once more. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t know yet,” Shizuo admitted. He needed some time to work through it. Izaya was too much of a distraction for him to be able to do it properly right then, so he changed the subject. “I heard Kishitani let you off the team for good behavior.”

Izaya snickered. “That’s one way to put it.”

Shizuo recalled how Izaya had been dressed earlier and thought it might be a good time to tease him about it. “Kind of a shame. You looked pretty good in that lab coat.”

Izaya tsked. “You really want me to walk around wearing _another_ layer of clothing? That seems counterproductive.”

“What are you gonna do now?” Shizuo asked so he could ignore the heat that crept down his neck in response.

“Let’s just say I won’t be spending my afternoons rotting away in this classroom, correcting basic arithmetic errors anymore,” Izaya replied. “I’ll leave that to Kishitani-sensei and Shinra. It’s more their forte anyway. I have more important things to do with my time.”

“Like running your gambling ring?”

Izaya raised his eyebrows. “Shizu-chan has been listening to rumors again. I thought I'd taught you better.”

Shizuo scoffed. “You told me yesterday that you were doing it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Izaya’s voice held no bite, had settled back into a lazy sort of drawl and the longer he talked the closer he leaned into Shizuo. “If I remember correctly, yesterday you were convinced I’d made the whole thing up, like everyone else, which is understandable. Your ‘Izaya Orihara is the root of all evil’ theory works much better that way.”

Shaking his head at the way that name got more dramatic every time Izaya brought up the topic, Shizuo squeezed harder at his hips. “I changed my mind. But, you know, the real story doesn’t exactly disprove that theory either.”

Izaya laughed instead of responding properly at first. “I know. I never said it wasn’t true.”

“It’s not,” Shizuo admitted, and he could suddenly feel Izaya’s mouth up against his neck, warm and increasingly familiar. “Just mostly.” There was a sudden sharpness pressing up against his skin as Izaya introduced his teeth without warning. Shizuo hissed and pushed him back before he could leave a mark.

When he pulled back he was wearing that same asshole smile that had made Shizuo want to punch his teeth out the first night they’d met. It felt like years ago, even though Shizuo knew it hadn’t been that long at all. Time seemed to accelerate when he was around Izaya, and in the same way he always felt like he was chasing after the other boy in one way or another, he felt like he should start trying to chase down more of it or it would all go by too fast.

There were still a lot of things he had to figure out: what he was going to do about this musical thing now that it was really happening, how he was going to put up with Shinra for the rest of his life if he and Celty actually got together, and how exactly the arrogant, annoying prick who’d dragged him up onto that stage and the smug, irritatingly handsome guy he’d somehow become inextricably attached to over the past month overlaid perfectly to form the one whole person in his arms. But he could do that later. Even if it didn’t always feel like it, he had time, and, as long as he had hold of him, Izaya wasn’t going anywhere.

“Hey, Izaya,” Shizuo said, and he looked up from where he’d been tapping his fingers on the tops of Shizuo’s hands during the pause in conversation.

“Hm?”

“I like you.”

Izaya made a face at him, curling his upper lip. “Gross, now Shizu-chan is sweaty _and_ sappy.” He made a show of trying to get away, struggling against Shizuo’s grip, but Shizuo had no intention of letting go any time soon. _Someone_ had to take over the responsibility of acting like they were actually in a relationship, and if it made Izaya squirm that was all the better.

Shizuo ended up having to kiss the ugly expression off of Izaya’s face, and afterwards made a show of attacking the rest of his face with kisses while the other boy whined about it overdramatically. Eventually Izaya decided he want to fight back, per usual: he caught onto Shizuo’s lips with his own and brought his hands up to hold his face still, ceasing Shizuo’s movement all together and effectively locking the two of them together. Shizuo didn’t think his chest could feel much lighter. He might have worried Izaya didn’t feel the same, determined as he was to never to respond the way he was supposed to, if only he couldn’t feel how quickly his heart was beating due to the way his chest was pressed up against his own, or how the shape of the kiss had curled immediately into that of smile as soon as their mouths had met once more, and Izaya didn’t have to say anything. That told Shizuo everything he could have wanted to hear.


End file.
